《The Extra’s Survival: Logging into the Game Master System!》 Chapter 1: [Apocalypse!] ''There are times in life when you face questions you don''t know answers to.'' I thought as I looked at the 4th question on today''s exam. -Sigh! A long sigh escapes my mouth as I was done with my paper. It''s just the 4th question that I didn''t know how to solve. ''Seems like this is it for the papers,'' I thought as I looked around me. Beside me was an orange haired boy trying his best to solve the questions. For a brief moment, I even saw him praying with his hands joined a couple of times. Some were engrossed in the questions, others were trying to peek at each other''s answer sheet. My eyes then slowly reached the teacher observing the students with a slight smile. Even though the students were cheating, all he did was observe. Though he did call some students out who were disturbing others with their copying. -Sigh! Another sigh escaped my mouth as I put down my pen and looked through the window, at the setting sun that covered most of the sky. ''What should I do after this?'' I thought it was thest exam of my 3rd year highschool. My best friend was fighting cancer in another city right now. I could visit him maybe? "Perhaps I should read some manga?" I muttered out my thoughts as I was pretty much done with the paper. "Hey! Adrian. Pss Pss," the same orange haired boy, Mark, whispered to me. Peeking him from the side eye, I observed him for a brief moment before whispering back," lunch." "Sure," he gave me a thumbs up with a bright expression, before he carefully raised his three fingers denoting the question number he was asking. "Mark. Adrian," though our homeroom teacher''s eagle eyes caught us before I could even re-read the question. Well, there goes my lunch. Mark grumbled. I then looked back at the sunset at a distance, calming me a little, as I recalled that this was thest time I would be looking at this sunset. Somehow it made me recall a few bits of my life as well. Adrian John Rodriguez. A fancy name that was given to me by Sister Martha, the orphanage where I used to stay during the first decade of my life. She said that I was born for greatness and the purpose of life was to the best there is. I was enthralled. Themon masses couldn''t understand the thought process a legend like me was going through. But that was for 5 more minutes until I found her saying the same thing to another 5 year old in the orphanage. Anyways, life was pretty easy going as I worked, first in the orphanage andter part time, and studied in my free time. Even got a decent schrship that saved me quite a bit of money. Academically I was good, as for sports, I was barely average. Nothing especially good about that life¡­ but nothing bad either. And I wanted it to peacefully continue like that for a long time. With college, rtionships, marriage, etc. I would rather have an ordinary life with simplicity than one with fortunes and troubles. ''?'' Sadly¡­ Life throws curve balls in ways that one can never expect. ''What''s that?'' Looking outside the window, I saw something flying in the air. My eyes narrowed at that thing that was flying. It seemed like a worm or something. ''What IS that thing?'' I tried taking a good look at it, as for some reason, I couldn''t let go of it. Though my curiosity was fulfilled rather fast as that ''thing'' was flying towards us. Its speed was fast as the size kept increasing, the closer it got. "Hey! What is that?" One of the girls spoke pointing at that thing, before her eyes widened in shock. And then she shouted,"M-M-MONSTER!!!!!!!" Indeed. It was a giant caterpir, big enough to crush the entire highschool if it fell on the ground. Panic ensued as it flew over the school, gathering the attention of all the ssmates present. But that wasn''t the end. It wasn''t the only one as more and more monsters of various shapes and sizes started pouring from the sky, flying all around as far as the eyes could see. And that was the start of what people will soon call the Great Cataclysm. [The World Tutorial is Over!] "Huh?" The crisp sound of a mechanical voice resounded in my mind. Though a little feminine,ck of emotions in those words revealed the apparent nature of it''s artificial nature. [The Game will now begin! Server 2312AB31 Will now be open!] "What?" "What is this?" "Am I hallucinating?" Before I could even think, the voice of my ssmates took my attention. Each of them showing a different emotion towards the ''air'' in front of them slowly ensued an air of disarray within the ssroom. Between the monsters outside and this ''System'' like notification. Confusion and panic spread like a wildfire, questioning themon sense of everyone present that was built over generations. I nced at Teacher Leeway, wondering if he was going to calm the situation but from his serious gaze it seemed he was prioritizing to understand the situation first. At the very least he wasn''t losing his wits in this situation. And then things turned from bad to ugly as ''it'' appeared right in front of us. "Hello Hello! Can you all hear me?" Something appeared from above, as our eyesnded at the strange being flying right above the teacher''s desk. A white coloured goblin like creature with insect wings, hovering in the air, his dirty yellow eyes looking at everyone present in the ssroom. Licking his lips with a long tongue, he looked at us as if we were a delicacy. "KYAAAA!!!" "MONSTER!!!!" "SAVE ME!!!!" And some of the girls in our ss shouted as they jumped out of their seats and ran away from that creature as fast as they could, towards the far end of the ssroom. "[Silence!]" That creature spoke in a strangenguage, muting the voices of all the panicked students present there. All sounds, whether it were the voices of the students or the falling of the furniture, everything turned null as the white goblin smiled creepily. His dirty yellow eyes looked at everyone present once more before he spoke, "Now that we have some peace. I will ry what I have to say." His voice attracted the attention of all those present around. Some afraid, some serious. Tension built as some of the students were panicking even more given their loss of speech ability. Two even fainted from all the pressure that was building. Though the white winged goblin monster didn''t care about any of them¡­ "Starting with the fact that most of you have guessed already. Your world was on a tutorial mode until now and it''s time limit is over. Now, you will be ying the real game." "There is only one rule. Survive every level. As you survive each level, more information will be revealed to you. Some of it will be useful. Some will be useless. But as you pass each level, your control over your own life will increase. Now¡­ entertain us," he smiled as he clicked his finger. The amount of information provided to us was little. The time given to us to take that information was even less than that. One can see from the manner of speech of that goblin that he was enjoying every bit of it. As he clicked his finger, time paused. Everything around me turned ck, gray and white, even that white goblin was frozen in the air with that creepy smile of his. My eyes looked at the frozen ssmates first, and then at the goblin. Perhaps my mind was already confused, that this strange process challenged my ability to think clearly. Where should I even begin? What is even going on? All sorts of questions jumbled up in my mind as a headache followed along with it. "Huh?" It was then I noticed. The Fancy Cheap Silver ring that I always wore on my right index finger glowed bright before melting into my finger, leaving a ck circr mark there. It had an intricate design, and I found this ring in my cupboard on a random day. Perhaps I liked it for one reason or another, so I ended up wearing it all the time. It wasn''t rted to my days of eighth grade syndrome at all. Nope. Not at all. Moments passed as I stayed still, wondering what was going on. Though, before I could try something, another message, this time on a white screen, appeared in front of me. [Game Master''s ID Found!] [Unlocking Game Master''s Privileges!] Chapter 2: [GameMaster!] [Game Master''s ID Found!] [Unlocking Game Master''s Privileges!] [Game Master''s ID: Adrian John Rodriguez/???? Username: Unnamed Authority Level: 0 Current GM Points: 0] [The current Privileges are unlocked at Level 0!] [Privilege 1: The Game Master can see All the Quests Present on the current Level!] [Privilege 2: The Game Master can bet on the yers present in the current Level!] My eyes read through the new text over and over, as I tried to understand the meaning behind them. While I had a rough idea, that idea was a little absurd to believe. [The Game will begin in 20 Minutes!] [Tutorial Level 1 Quest: Survive! Difficult Level: Medium! Objective: Survive the attack of the Zombies(Lvl 0)! Time limit: 10 Minutes! Rewards: Information about the System; +2 Attributes!] [Tutorial Level 1 Hidden Quest: Kill! Difficulty: Hard! Objective: Kill at least 1 Zombie! Limit: 10 yers Rewards: +5 Free Attributes] [Tutorial Level 1 Hidden Quest 2: Kill Harder! Difficulty: Insane! Objective: Kill 10 Zombies! Limit: 2 yers! Rewards: +10 Free Attributes; Skill: Undead Retaliation!] [Tutorial Level 1 Hidden Quest 3: Kill em all! Difficulty: Impossible! Objective 1: All the Zombies must be dead! Objective 2: Kill count 25+! Limit: 1 Person! Rewards: Title: Undead Hunter!] [The bettings are open!] [Select the number of people that are going to survive the Level: !] [Since it''s Game Master''s First Bet: A Free Bet worth 100 Points is gifted to the GM!] And I looked at the messages that appeared in front of me. My heartbeat was louder than my breathing as I read the messages over and over. ''Seems like Sister Martha was correct.'' While a bit in panic, I still understood what these messages meant. It would be wrong to say that I didn''t have questions in my mind. In fact I had too many questions. But¡­ [The Game will start in 16 minutes: 23 seconds!] ''Let''s postpone the questions until we get out of this mess,'' I thought as I looked at the quests from the start. There were things that I understood and things that I didn''t. So given the time limit, I focused on the former. ''Zombies will arrive. 50 of them in total. Surviving will let us live but¡­ '' I nced over the hidden quest. They were tempting. And equally dangerous. ''First of all. Can my ssmates even kill a single zombie?'' I nced at my frozen ssmates as I focused on a few of them. There were 2 of them who knew karate and 4 bullys who knew fighting better than others. If I am hopeful, then including the teacher there are 7 who can fight. But will the zombies be weak? ''Not really a hopeful situation,'' I nced frantically as my heartbeat kept rising. Each second was weighing more and more while I altered my nces between my ssmates and the system messages. [The Game will start in 8 minutes: 12 seconds!] Even if you ignore the monsters outside¡­ ''Most will die. Or most likely¡­ all will die,'' I reached this conclusion as I analyzed the situation more and more. Given the atmosphere, the chances of people messing up things were pretty sky high. [The Game will start in 5 minutes!] ''Let''s change the outlook. We don''t exactly have to fight,'' I thought as I narrowed my eyes on the people who were calmer than others. People whom I can count on. [The Game will start in 2 minutes!] ''All right. Let''s hope this works,'' I braced myself as I rubbed my chest. The high heart beat and the burning sensation coupled with the sudden thirst, I gulped as I tried to calm myself. The fear was numbing my mind but I was trying my best to remain calm in this situation. [The Game will start in 30 seconds!] [The number of people who will survive this level: !] And I bet my all on this. Why? Because given what I was about to do, either we all will survive this stupid quest¡­ or none of us will. [The Game will start now!] Time started again as everything around me began moving again. [Tutorial Level 1 Quest: Survive! Difficult Level: Medium! Objective: Survive the attack of the Zombies! Time limit: 10 Minutes! Rewards: Information about the System; +2 Attributes!] The same quest panel appeared in front of me, though unlike previously green, this time it was blue. It made me rify that the GameMaster system was different from this system. -Rawr! -Rawr! "Wha-" "??" I noticed that some of the people in the ss could speak now. But still they didn''t speak anything, maintaining the silence which was present before. Even though everyone was in a bit of a panic, nobody dared to utter any other word. -Rawr! -Rawr! And the slow murmur of somebody walking towards the ss made everyone turned towards the door. -Thud! Thud! Thud! And as everyone wondered what was going to happen next¡­ a certain boy, a guy with blonde hair and blue eyes, the most popr kid in our ss. He ran towards the door and locked it. "Everyone! Bring your seats and ce them at the door! NOW!!!" He had a desperate look in his eyes. But for some reason, rather than panic, there was serious desperation in his eyes. He wasn''t scared. Just hurried. And his loud voice broke the ssmates out of their stupor. My eyes nced at the stupidly standing people in the room. But it was better than panicking and shouting. You can say that I was somewhat surprised that they weren''t losing their wits in this situation. ''I should help too,'' I thought but some of the ssmates moved faster than me. At first half the ss moved the furnitures, and then the rest followed as well. Our teacher also followed to help Luke. Luke was popr. Good in sports, good in studies. He was the cheerful guy who was somewhat an unofficial leader of our ss( at least half of them). So him taking the first step made others follow him without hesitation as well. ''Good job Luke!'' Couldn''t help but praise him for that. As for the white goblin, he looked at the students with a rather disdained look. Observing them working in unison with minimal panic¡­ it probably wasn''t what he calcted. But as he wasn''t saying anything, he probably doesn''t have enough authority to deal with it. -BAM! -BAAM! -BAM! "Hold it tightly! We need to survive for 20 minutes!" Shouted Luke as he held his own body against the tables and chairs. ''We are lucky that we have only one entrance in the ssroom. The other ssrooms won''t be as lucky,'' I thought as our ssroom was on the far end of the hallway. And since we were on the third floor, the chances of zombies appearing through the windows were minimum. While half of the students stood watching the scene, considerably calmed down, the others who still had a bit of terror, were working with Luke to stop the zombies. I was obviously in thetter half. "Once all this is over. I am going to call my father. I don''t know what is going on but this sort of prank is going to cost the school a lot," one of the girls standing a bit away from us, spoke, as she looked at the teacher. ''Is she being serious?'' I wondered. But then again¡­ there are always people like that in the novels, aren''t there? I always thought that it was a stupid plot author tried to put in for no reason. "Your father is a policemissioner, right?!" Another girl, whose eyes lit up, spoke with a relieved sigh. "Yeah," that girl spoke proudly, as she looked down at the rest of us. [16 minutes Left!] -BAM! -BAM! -BOOOM!!! Time passed slowly as we held on together. Thebined strength of half of the ss along with the furniture blocking the main gate, we were able to contain the zombies outside the ssroom. Even though the number of zombies were increasing, it didn''t seem like we were going to have a lot of trouble surviving here. Too bad for the hidden quest, but oh well. Survivinges first. While some of the ssmates talked with each other, some simply chose to be silent. I, of course, was of thetter ones given myck of social habits, but what was surprising that Luke, the most cheerful guy, didn''t uttered a single word after what he spoke earlier. [12 Minutes] [8 Minutes!] [3 minutes!] [1 minute!] And under the gazes of everyone present in the room, the countdown went down to 0. [Congrattions! You have passed the first tutorial!] [Each Surviving Individual can now view their System!] [+2 Free Attributes!] And as soon as that information ended, time stopped again. Once again everything turned ck and white as I observed the area. And just like before¡­ a White System Screen different from the blue one appeared in front of me. [Congrattions! You have won the bet!] [Free Bet Ticket is now being Converted into GM Points!] [+200 GM Points Acquired!] Chapter 3: [Quests and Priviledges!] Time froze again. But this time, there was no time limit. I could see at the end of the long text something like [Continue!] written over there. Following game logic, until I press that, the time won''t start. ''Alright. Let''s use this opportunity to collect my thoughts,'' I thought as I nced over the ssmates of mine and then at that white goblin-like being. And finally, I recalled the blue screen that I had seen before. [Every Individual can now view their system!] ''So it''s like a Novel, huh?'' Famous novels like ORV, or novels with Dungeons, towers, etc, have simr settings as this one. Survive the monsters, grow stronger with the system, find great items. I guess, we can judge the current situation based on that. ''Though that''s just to roughly assess the situation. Things might be entirely different from what''s shown in the novels too.'' I contradicted myself as well. ''System!'' As the next obvious step, I called out the System to see what exactly we were dealing with here. [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Gift: [0] Body-Talent: [Mortal] Health: 50/50 Mana: [Not Yet Unlocked!] Attributes: Strength: 3.7 Agility: 3.2 Constitution: 5.0 Stamina: 4.0 Intelligence: 5.0 Wisdom: 6.0 Charm: 3.4 Free Attribute Points: 2 Skills: None!] I saw my system stats and at once nce, I could tell that they were bad. But the important question was ''How bad?'' Until I have someone else topare my stats with, I couldn''t tell. ''What is this gift, though?'' I wondered for a brief moment before moving on to the next thing. Since I was a bit more familiar with how things were going on, I was much calmer than before. I could now look around the frozen time and see the tired faces of the students. Even those who were putting a brave front, weren''t doing very well either. I would have been in the same situation as them¡­ or perhaps even worse. But I wasn''t. [Game Master''s ID: Adrian John Rodriguez/??? Username: Unnamed Authority Level: 0 (Upgrade Cost: 100 GM) Current GM Points: 200] I saw the added text in the white screen but didn''t immediately jump to upgrade it. I had to analyze it first. Because if it is really what it is¡­ I was sitting on a gold mine then. [The current Privileges are unlocked at Level 0!] [Privilege 1: The Game Master can see All the Quests Present on the current Level!] [Privilege 2: The Game Master can bet on the yers present in the current Level!] ''Seems like GM points are the most important. And the only way of earning is betting on the yers, huh?'' I saw the [Privilege] and the Authority Level I had. I gave it a bit of a thought before deciding to spend the GM Points on increasing the Authority Level. While I could have saved GM to bet more on the next level, I decided that increasing the Authority level would be a better choice if I want to survive. [Authority Level 1!] [The Following Privileges are unlocked!] [Privilege 3: Allows the GameMaster to Adjust the rules of the Games Equivalent to GM Points spent!] [Privilege 4: Allows the GameMaster to [Contract] a yer and give [Blessing!] [Skill!] [Title!] [Coins!] [Curses!] [Punishment!] ] My eyes widened as I looked at the information given to me. Indeed it was the right choice to increase the Authority. I then nced over all the information I had once again. Making sure that I didn''t miss anything, I then looked at my ssmates once again before clicking on [Continue!] at the end of the page. ¡­ "As anticlimactic as it was, it seems like we have 20 survivors here," and that goblin, totally unpleased, spoke as he looked at all of us. The voice of zombies outside also vanished as if it never existed. Luke and the rest of us who were holding the tables and chairs, let go as we all observed the [System!]. Some had a spark in their eyes, while others were panicking. Others had their eyes narrowed at the [System!] "Anyways. Since each of you can see your System, you may see your stats and where you are standing. There are various ways of increasing stats, and attribute points. Killing monsters, leveling up,pleting quests, and many more. But that is only avable after youplete the three levels of the tutorial!" The goblin spoke as his eyes shined at us once again. "Umm¡­ excuse me," a girl with long ck hair, the ss president, Miss Alice, spoke as she took a few steps towards that goblin. "What is this [Contract]?" She asked curiously, making even the Goblin a bit shocked as he looked at her. His eyes blinked a couple of times before he licked his lips and then mumbled, "To catch the Attention of the Gods in the tutorial itself. Hehehe." "It is exactly what it says. A God wants to contract with you. There should be benefits provided to you, and the task you need to do in return for them. You may choose to go with it, or reject it. It is your own choice in the end," he smiled creepily at Miss Alice, before he looked at the rest of us. "Now! Before we get to the next Level, let me give you onest piece of information that you need to know. As you can see, everyone has their own ''Gift''. In this world, this is the most important thing you can trust. An inborn talent you are born with. If anything that can increase your ability to survive in this hell, it''s your gift and how well you work with it," he spoke as he observed our expressions. Though¡­ [Gift: (0)] ''What the hell?'' I thought as I tried clicking on it, wondering what it meant. Did I end up picking up the lower end of the straw in exchange for the Game Master''s System? Though the next series of information that flowed made my heart skip a beat. [Create Your Gift! (GM Points will be used ording to the Gift Created)] Chapter 4: [Endless Possibilities!] [Create Your Gift! (GM Points will be used ording to the Gift Created)] "Since we are done with that. Let''s proceed to the next level," and the white goblin clicked his fingers again. And just like before, the time stopped with the white screen appearing in front of me. [The next Level will start in 30 minutes!] [Tutorial Level 2 Quest: Escape! Difficulty: High! Objective: Reach the outer ground of the Milton High School! Time Limit: 60 minutes! Rewards: +5 Free Attribute Points!] [Hidden Quest 1: Kill! Difficulty: Insane! Objective: Kill at least 10 monsters thate your way! Rewards: +10 Free Attribute Points!] [Hidden Quest 2: Disarm! Difficulty: Moderate! Objective: Disarm/Trigger at least 8 Traps on your way! Rewards: [Skill: Beginner''s Perception!] ] [Hidden Quest 3: Winner! Difficulty: High! Objective: Be the first one to step outside! Rewards: [Title: Fast Runner!]] [Hidden Quest 4: Last but not the least! Difficulty: Easy! Objective: Be thest one to step outside! Rewards: +2 Free Attributes!] [The bettings are open!] [Out of 132 yers, how many will make it out alive? ] [Out of 132 yers, how many will make it out in 30 minutes? ] [Out of 132 yers, how many will make it out alive in 10 minutes? ] Just likest time, the information appeared of the next few quests that were going to ur. I observed them for a few minutes before closing my eyes as I reorganized my thoughts. ''I will die.'' And that''s the conclusion I reached based on my stats and Gift. All by myself, I was pretty sure that I would die by the first trap or monster that I would encounter. But then¡­ There was something that I wanted to try. [Would you like to send [Contract!] to [Adrian John Rodriguez]? Since it''s your first [Contract], No GM Points will be consumed!] A smile formed on my face as I clicked [Yes], before another notification popped up. This time on my blue screen. [Game Master [???] wants to bind a [Contract]with you? You will allow [???] to bestow [Blessings!] [Title!] [Skill!] [Gold!] [Curse!] [Punishment!] in exchange for doing their bidding whenever they ask you to!] [Would you like to proceed with the Contract?] [Yes!] [Congrattions! You are now officially bound to [???]!] The messages stopped on the blue screen, as I decided to move to my next step. But something nice happened next on the ''White Screen'' that made me widen my eyes in astonishment. [You have formed your first contract!] [Contractee: Lower Grade Mortal with below basic Stat and No Gift!] [+100 GM Points!] [+500 GM Points will be added as a beginner Gift!] I closed my eyes for a brief moment, before a wide smile crept up on my face. Looking at the information that was in front of my eyes, I wondered what would happen if I were to form a contract with a Higher Grade Mortal¡­ or even with someone with a Gift. But for that¡­ survivales first. [20 minutes till the Game Starts!] [Gift: Superhuman Abilities! Grade: Devine Grade-0! Effect: All Stats X100!] Cost: 1 Billion GM Points!] [Gift: Elemental Summoner! Grade: Mythical Grade-0 Effect: Summon any types of elemental without any limit! Cost: 1.3 Billion GM Points!] [Gift: Mana Body! Grade: Mythical- Grade-0 Effect: Allows the user to Mana Indefinitely! Cost: 900 Million GM Points!] ''So the high limit is somewhere in billions, Huh?'' [Gift: Walk! Grade: Lower Mortal Grade-9 Effect: Allows the user to walk 1.1 times faster! Cost: 20 GM Points!] ''And the lower limit is in the 10s, huh?'' I thought before trying something more. [Gift: Walk! Grade: Lower Mortal Grade-10 Effect: Allows the user to walk 1.1 times faster for 10 minutes! Cooldown: 60 minutes! Cost: 2 GM Points!] ''Good. This opens up many options,'' I thought as I closed the [Gift], until I had enough time to sit and think about it. I don''t know if I could change my [Gift]ter or not, so for now let''s postpone it until I have at least 10,000 GM Points. [10 minutes till game starts!] ''Yeah, yeah. I know.'' I then began analyzing the next level and what I need to do. While fighting is an appropriate choice, I wanted to keep myself hidden until I had enough strength to defend myself. And in order to do that, [Skill: Absolute Foresight! Rank: SSS-Rank! Effect: Allows the user to view 10 Seconds into the future!] [Would you like to create [Skill: Absolute Foresight]! For 200 Million GM Points?] ''This is too much, huh?'' I pondered before trying something else. [Skill: Trap Detection(Passive) Rank: E Effect: Allows the user to detect all forms of traps within 100 meters!] [Would you like to create [Skill: Trap Detection!] for 1000 GM Points?] ''Hmmm¡­ Let''s see. If we do this,'' I then added a few restrictions to that skill and then. [Skill: Lesser Trap Detection Rank: F Effect: For 60 minutes, the user can see all traps around him within 20 meters in range! Cooldown: 7 Days!] [Would you like to Create [Skill: Lesser Trap Detection!] 100 GM Points?!] With this one done, next one¡­ [Limited Skill: Trap disarmament! Rank: E Effect: Allows you to Disarm Traps below Lvl 10 immediately! Restrictions: The skill will stop existing after 20 Traps are disarmed!] [Would you like to Create [Limited Skill: Trap Disarmament!] for 80 GM Points?!] ''This should do,'' I thought before looking at one of the Hidden Quests. [Hidden Quest 2: Disarm! Difficulty: Moderate! Objective: Disarm/Trigger at least 8 Traps on your way! Rewards: [Skill: Beginner''s Perception!] ] After giving it a bit of thought, I then tried changing a few things within that quest. [Hidden Quest 2: Disarm! Difficulty: Insane! Objective: Disarm 20 Traps on your way! Rewards: [Skill: Perception!]; +5 Attribute Points!] [The following changes will cost 200 GM Points. Will you proceed with it?] ''Is 20 Traps too much?'' I thought before I decided that it was not. I just need to not go the way where the monsters are. [2 minutes left before the Game starts!] Since all the things were done, I decided that I should ce my bets as well. [Out of 132 yers, how many will make it out alive? ] [50 GM Points!] [Out of 132 yers, how many will make it out in 30 minutes? ] [50 GM Points!] [Out of 132 yers, how many will make it out alive in 10 minutes? ] [100 GM Points!] [GM Points: 120!] I took onest look at my remaining GM Points before I then focused back on the countdown! [The Game will start in 10 seconds!] And the countdown slowly turned to 0, before everything turned back to color again. Chapter 5: [Escape!] [Tutorial Level 2 Quest: Escape! Difficulty: High! Objective: Reach the outer ground of the Milton High School! Time Limit: 60 minutes! Rewards: +5 Free Attribute Points!] Just like before the [Quest!] appeared on the blue screen, as the white goblin turned silent. His eyes looked at Luke and Alice, while a crude smile was present on his face. "W-What should we do now?" One of the ssmates spoke, as his eyes looked at the timer with a panicked voice. His question was mostly directed to himself but for one reason or another, people looked at Luke, hoping he could guide them again. I could see Luke gulping with all the pressure but even then he didn''t break down and started exining whatever was on his mind, "Since it is an escape this time, we can expect a monster or something chasing us. Or perhaps some form of puzzles on our way out. The puzzles could be deadly traps too." Luke paused. His eyes observed the deadly silence as horror filled in the eyes of the people around him. Confirming that everyone was listening to him, Luke continued, "But since we have these [Gifts!], I can hope that we can get out of this if we cooperate properly. I will go first. I have a [Gift] that allows me to increase my weapon proficiency faster. Is there anyone else who has [Gift] rted to fighting?" His didn''t exactly calm the situation but it sure made them all hopeful. Their eyes which were horrified before, were now horrified + Hopeful. "I.. I have a [Gift] for brawls. I can increase my physical strength." "Me too. I can increase my speed." "I¡­ it says that I can weaken opponents." Three voices came up, while others had their eyes down in shame. It doesn''t seems like they have anything useful for the situation. "I have a healing gift but I don''t know how well it will work," our professor joined in. He tried to be calm, but the dry voice betrayed the neutral expression that he was making. Still, having a healer reduced the burden to quite an extent. Luke who seemed to have somewhat calmed, looked at Alice as he asked," Ummm. Alice. Is it all right if I know your [Gift!]? Since you got that [Contract] thing, I wonder if you got something that could help us out." Though Alice only shook her head with a sigh as she spoke, "I got a gift rted to Mana or something. It says I can manipte mana faster but¡­ ording to the [Contract], it also says that it will take sometime for me to get used to it. Until then, I can only try my best to survive." These words amazed most of us. Anyone who has read a fantasy novel or yed a simr game knows what it means. No wonder she was [Contracted] so early. Some of us looked at her with envy, while others tried getting close to her, trying to butter up to her. Pretty cliche if you ask me. Luke on the other hand had a thoughtful look. His eyes seemed to be really concentrated as he mumbled in a low voice, "One problem is barely manageable but what about the Traps?" He massaged his temples for a few seconds, as his eye narrowed at the goblin. But then he sighed as if he had resigned everything to fate. "Ummm¡­ Luke," and then I moved towards him, gathering his attention and of those around him. "I have a gift rted to [Perception!]. It allows me to see through things¡­ Maybe I can help with the Traps?" I sounded hopeful, as if I was trying to be useful in this situation. And it worked. Luke''s eyes glistened, listening to me, as he held me by my shoulders and spoke with a bright expression," why didn''t you tell me that before?!" ''I wanted to build the tension.'' I just forced a smile at him without speaking anything. "All right. Since we have everything we need. Let''s hurry up. Time is running out!" Luke then shifted gears and wasted no more time. [54 Minutes remaining!] ''Was selecting 5-25 survivors in 10 minutes was a bad idea? I can only hope that other sses can fulfill that criteria,'' I sighed on the inside as I didn''t want to Lose any precious GM Points here. Luke and the others then started removing all the chairs and tables from the main gate, and a minuteter, Luke was standing in front of the ssroom gate while taking heavy breaths. "Are you guys ready?" He asked the 5 of us, and we nodded. Luke nodded in return before -Thurrrr! Thud! Sliding the ssroom gate open. The half bent ssroom gate opened only 70%, but it was enough for the 5 of us to slowly move out of the ssroom. The rest were supposed toe behind us, after we dealt with the traps or/and monsters. Graced with the presence of a long hallway, I saw the empty corridor, that lead all the way to the other end. The staircase was most probably somewhere in the middle of this hallway. Luke looked at me, and I nodded before moving forward. [Skill: Lesser Trap Detection Activated!] [Trap Detected!] [Acid Trap: Creates a Pool of Acid that engulfs anyone within 2 seconds. 1 time activation only!] [Trap Detected!] [Poison Arrow: Fires a deadly arrow at the target. 1 Time activation only!] I saw a green coloured tile at the left wall, 5 meters away from me and another 12 meters away. Looking at it, I gulped before moving towards it a step. [Would you like to Disarm [Acid Trap!]?] [Yes!] I saw the trap activating on its own and then turning into golden light before vanishing from our sight. "EEk!!" One of the ssmates shrieked as he looked at that trap but I shook my head before looking at Luke, "I think I can see them and disarm them. Though I doubt I can do it for all the traps." Understanding my words, Luke nodded. His eyes then observed the front and asked," are there more traps?" I shook my head and lied," I need to be at least 3-4 meters away from the trap." If I had told the truth then chances were that he would try to avoid traps altogether. It was the right course of action given the situation but honestly speaking, it wasn''t favorable to me if we started avoiding all the traps. Not until I disarm 20 of them. We walked slowly across the hallway, as I disarmed more and more traps. The people from the ssroom made a line and followed behind the 5 of us, with me leading at the front. As we walked through, a few things became clear. Firstly, the monsters that were supposed to appear, were only going to appear through Traps. If we do not trigger those traps, the monsters won''t appear at all. And given the current situation, I decided to not disarm those traps. There was a high chance that diarming those traps could release the monsters, which would result in an unpredictable battle. Which was something I would like to avoid at all cost for now. The second thing which we got to see was that the other sses were not as lucky as we were. Some of the ss doors that we opened showed us the scenes of massacre as blood scattered everywhere. But more surprisingly there was no trace of monsters or dead bodies in those ssrooms at all. ''No wonder the betting had only 132 students despite the school being able to contain 500 plus people.'' Luck favored us in many ways. [40 minutes remaining!] We reached the staircase swiftly. Plus we were able to save(?) about a dozen more students from other sses. I looked at the other end of the hallway, wondering if there were more traps to be disarmed. But two things caught my attention even more than the traps. One was that there were 4 dead students in the hallway. 3 had their body pierced by an arrow, sword, or other weapons, while the fourth one was eaten by the abdomen. The other thing that I noticed was the dead bodies of 6 zombies on the way. It seemed someone had killed those zombies and proceeded downwards on their own. The open doors of all the ssrooms also added to my deduction that people from that hallway have already descended. Whether they were dead or alive was a different matter altogether. "Seems like they escaped," Luke spoke as he observed the tragedy in front of us. He had a rather sad expression but we couldn''t afford to waste time here anymore. [Trap Disarmed: 7!] There was still a long way to go before I couldplete my [Quest!]. "Adrian?" Luke asked with a concerned face but I shook my head. I then disarmed three more traps on the staircase at each floor, while ncing at the dead zombies on each floor. And soon we reached the ground floor. ''Seems like there is someone strong among the students,'' I thought as I looked at the ground a few meters away from us. One can see there were about 20 students standing outside, while most of us just stood there watching that semi transparent greenscreen that marked the entry to the outdoor field. "There are no more traps here, you guys can go," I spoke out, making everyone sigh in relief before all the people who were following us ran towards the outdoorfield. [35 minutes remaining!] "Adrian?" Luke, who was about to run out as well, stopped. While Alice, who never moved, observed me with a focused expression. "I have someone to check on," I lied again as I looked back, as if worried about someone. I needed a reason to go back without creating any suspicion. And for the time being, this was the best thing I coulde up with. "Someone?" Luke still asked, with his eyes filled questions. "It''s embarrassing but¡­ my crush," I faked a smile before I took a step back and turned around. Though as if understanding what I said, Luke shouted back,e back if it''s too much!" I gave a thumbs up and ran even faster. Gotta disarm all the traps. I also must save as much as possible. Can''t let the GM points I betted, all got to waste. Running back to the first floor, I started disarming all the traps on my way. "Is there anyone here?!" I shouted as I looked inside each ssroom at least once. Though as luck would have it, there were none on the first floor. Either they all went outside, or they were all dead. [Trap Disarmed: 14!] Though that waspensated with only one side of the corridor of the second floor. It seemed nobody survived the first level itself. [Trap Disarmed: 20!] [Hidden Quest Complete!] [You have received a new Skill: Perception!] [You have received +5 Free Attribute Points!] Chapter 6: [Quests Complete!] [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Gift: [0] Body-Talent: [Mortal!] Health: 50/50 Mana: [Not Yet Unlocked!] Attributes: Strength: 3.7 Agility: 3.2 Constitution: 5.0 Stamina: 4.0 Intelligence: 5.0 Wisdom: 6.0 Charm: 3.4 Free Attribute Points: 7 Skills: [Lesser Trap Detection!] [Perception!] ¡­ [Perception(Passive) Rank: C EffectS: -Increases the user''s ability to discern through objects, monsters, items, etc.(Range 100 meters) -Can see through the illusion/disguise of equal or lower level. -Allows you to see beyond the normal eye level.(Range: 2 Miles)] ¡­ I was happy with the skill I got. It was C-Rank and it was already that great, I wondered if I could increase the Rank using GM points? Maybe I should check itter. For now¡­ ''How should I allocate my points? And what sort of [Gift!] should I aim for?'' I questioned myself as I walked back to the staircase. [10 minutes remaining!] There was still time before the Level was finished, so right now, I wanted to know the pathway of my future. Should I go through the physical build? Or a mage build? Honestly, both are good but not really appealing to me. I am not really azy person, but I don''t wanna be a protagonist putting my head in every other problem. Luke is more suited for that role. ''What should I really go with then?'' I reached the ground floor but didn''t enter the outside field immediately. [5 minutes remaining!] Even though I doubt there would be anyone else entering the outer field, I still wanted to make sure I got the hidden reward for thest position. And in those 5 minutes, I pondered what path should I really take? Hmmm. Should I be something like an archer? Or perhaps a gunslinger? My [Perception!] skill can be really useful if I choose any of those. ''No. I should find something that could help me maximize my ability as a Gamemaster,'' I pped my forehead lightly as I forgot such an obvious step. [10 seconds remaining!] I then stepped out into the outer field, observing everyone present there, who was now looking at me. Though before anything can happen¡­ [Hidden Quest: Last but not the least Completed!] [+2 Free Attributes!] [Congrattions! You have passed the second tutorial!] [+5 Attributes!] [The Points Shop is now Open!] And with that message, everything froze again, as the white screen appeared in front of me. [Total yers Survived: 57!] [Total yers entered the safe zone in the first 30 minutes: 56!] [Total yers entered the safe zone in the first 10 minutes: 12!] [+100 GM Points Acquired!] [Your Contractee(Adrian John Rodriguez) has Completed Tutorial Level 2(Hard)!] [+300 GM Points will be awarded!] [Your Contractee(Adrian John Rodriguez) haspleted a hidden Quest(Easy)!] [+200 GM Points will be awarded!] [Your Contractee(Adrian John Rodriguez) haspleted a hidden Quest(Insane)!] [+1,000 GM Points will be awarded!] [GM Points: 1720!] A glistening smile appeared on my face as I saw through the text notifications. It seemed as if doing any important tasks would result in GM points. ''Though I wonder how these points are calcted?'' I was kind of intrigued on the allocation of points and how they were given out. But for now, there was something more important for me to do. And that was to decide the path I was going to take for the future. ''Honestly¡­ I think I already know what I want though,'' I smiled as I typed a few things wondering how much the cost would be of the profession that I am going to choose. Chapter 7: [God of Cartography!] [Gift: God of Cartography! Grade: Beyond Mythical Grade-0 Effect: Allows the user to create any form of map and bring it to reality! The user can bring anything he desires into the world just by imagining it, as long as he has the definite map of it. Cost: 1.2 Quadrillion GM Points!] ''All right. I think I kind of went overboard with that one,'' I pressed my lips a little before I made a few necessary changes. [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Lower Mortal Grade- 10 Experience till next Grade: 0.00% Effect: -Allows the user to create mental maps based on what he has observed! Cost: 25,000 GM Points!] Despite being the lowest grade, the price was quite heavy. I guess, growth type [Gifts!] aren''t thatmon. But I was still d that it wasn''t too overpriced that I would need to start looking for something else altogether. "I wonder if there are ways by which I can earn GM points faster," I questioned as I still didn''t kill any monsters as such. Maybe I should try doing that in the next tutorial? With that in mind, I looked at a new [Points] thing that was added to the system. Though¡­ [Points: 0] That was all there was. Seems like I would need to wait until that goblin guy tells us about the points. And since we can''t do anything about it, this is the only other thing left, huh? [Game Master''s ID: Adrian John Rodriguez/??? Username: Unnamed Authority Level: 1 (Upgrade Cost: 1000 GM) Current GM Points: 1720] ''Should I upgrade the Authority Level or wait until the next tutorial?'' I questioned at first since it was asking more than 60% of the GM points I have, but since the previous upgrade provided quite the benefits, I decided to upgrade it anyway. ''I mean, what''s worse can happen, right?'' [Authority Level 2!] [The following Privilege has been unlocked!] [Privilege 5: Allows the GM to view the normal quests of the next Event!] [Privilege 6: Allows the GM to Add a Sub-Quest in the scenario(Not applicable in the Tutorial)!] "Well. I guess, these are useful in their own way. But not right now," I sighed as I should have waited a bit longer before upgrading the authority. But since what was done was already done, I guess there is nothing I could do. I then decided to press [Continue!], but I paused as I wondered about something. [Would you like to upgrade the skill [Perception!] for 50,000 GM Points?] ''Well. I will keep this function in mind,'' I thought before checking onest thing. [Would you like to sell the skill [Lesser Trap Detection!] for 50 GM Points?] Since I already had [Perception!], this skill was pretty useless to me. [ [Lesser Trap Detection!] sold for 50 GM Points!] And with that done, I then pressed the [Continue!] button as the time began to move again. "Adrian!" I heard a voice from a distance where Luke and the other ssmates were together. The one calling me out was Mark, the guy who was sitting beside me in the ss. He and the others seemed rather cheerful as they saw me walking towards them. Though my eyes were mostly looking at the other survivors. Especially those who seemed a bit stronger than the other ones. They were the ones I needed to look out for now. "Did you find the person you were looking for?" Luke asked as he observed the surroundings but I slowly shook my head as I pressed my lips before giving a small smile. His expression turned pitiful as he observed me before patting my head as he tried cheering me up,"don''t worry. You saved our lives today, don''t ever forget that!" Since I was mostly lying, I only looked at him with a sad expression before looking up at the flying goblin, who seemed to be observing a few of us here with a narrowed look. "I don''t know much about saving to be honest," I said as I turned around and looked at all the people around. Despite surviving, most of them weren''t faring much. It was the same for the people from my ss too. "I was going to dy this but since one of you has already obtained more than a thousand points, I will first exin about points before exining about the next Level," the goblin spoke, catching our attention once again. "Points?" "Who did?" "Next Level?" "Mom!" Different people focused on different things from that information. The air of panic was suffocating but now, a few of the people were getting adapted to it. And a few were enjoying it. "Points is something you can obtain by killing monsters. Each monster is worth at least 200 Points and they can be used to buy various items, skills and weapons from the [Shop!]. Consider it as a currency of the Tutorial," once again the Goblin spoke the bare minimum before giving us a rather ugly smile. [10: 00] "The next tutorial Level will start in 10 minutes. Enjoy the little time, to rx and settle down," he said before turning silent again as the time started. But then he started flying towards a certain person who started asking him a bunch of questions about the [Shop!] and other things. From the looks of things, he was the one who got over a 1000 points. -Step! Step! Step! And like insects to a light, most of the surviving students started running towards the guy, trying to understand more about what was going on. Though, it was pretty obvious. They wanted to leech off the strongest guy in the area, hoping to increase their chance of survival. Even our ss was among the people who ran towards him. With the exception of Mark, Luke, Alice, Teacher, me and three other students, everyone was already flocking over there. "Aren''t you guys going to talk to him as well?" The question was posed by our teacher to us. He looked at us with a tired but warm smile, while Mark answered in a serious tone. "It''s a do or die world, teach. Leeching off others would help us for now, but in the long run we will have nothing be stray roots that those at the top will cut." His mature answer made us turn at him with a bit of amazement. But that was until he said the next word, "I want to be the protagonist who will stand at the top without any help from others!" "Chunnibyou?" Luke chuckled out loudly, making Mark re at us. "You are not wrong though," Alice had a serious look on her face. "See. She agrees with me too," Mark smiled proudly before Alice shattered his pride in a gazillion pieces, "I only meant the first part." "So what should we do now?" One of the three people, Julia, a blue haired girl with short hair, spoke as she joined our group. Though she was calm, I could see her hands slightly shaking while her eyes trembled momentarily as she looked at us, or more specifically at Luke. "We wait until the information about the next leveles up. And then decided what to do from there," Luke said firmly. And we all nodded before we waited for the time to pass. I could check the shop but without points it was pointless window shopping. Pun intended. So instead, I decided to check something. [Would you like to send a [Contract!] to [Luke Desmonde!] for 1,000,000 GM Points?] My eyes widened as I canceled that. Before looking at Alice once again. She was the one who was contracted, wasn''t she? So a God was ready to spend that much on her, huh? Though on that thought, was it really like that? I mean, I am a Game Master. I wonder how that is different from being a God? I should look into that when the possibility arises. [00 : 00] And the countdown ended as time paused again. This time with the time limit of [60 minutes!] But unlikest time, the amount of information was arranged in concise form. Probably due to the amount of information. [Tutorial Level 3 Quests!] -Main Quests! -Sub-Quests! -Continuity Quests! -Hidden Quests! -Unique Quests! [Betting Conditions!] -Ranking Betting! -Survival Betting! -Minor Betting! -Growth Betting! Chapter 8: [Tutorial Level 3: Prep-Time!] [Tutorial Level 3 Quests!] -Main Quests! -Sub-Quests! -Continuity Quests! -Hidden Quests! -Unique Quests! [Betting Conditions!] -Ranking Betting! -Survival Betting! -Minor Betting! -Growth Betting! "It''s much better thanst time," I smiled at the concise information before clicking on the main quest [Tutorial Level 3 Quest: Points Collection! Difficulty: Hard! Objective: Have 10,000 Points by the end of the Quest Time! Time limit: 168 Hours! Penalty: Death! Reward: [Safe Box!] [Random Box!] [+2 Free Attribute Points!] ] ''So it''s that kind of quest, huh?'' I sighed as I didn''t think much about it. I was going to kill monsters anyway so this was beneficial for me in many ways. Though I doubt others would share the same sentiment. Plus it was a week long too. Seems like I need to n a long way ahead. [Sub Quests!] [Tutorial Level 2 Sub-Quest 1: Help! Difficulty: Hard! Objective: Save at least 10 NPCs from the monsters and help them back to the safe point! Reward: +5,000 Points!] [Tutorial Level 2 Sub-Quest 2: Kill! Difficulty: Hard! Objective: Kill at least 100 Monsters! Rewards: [Skill: Hunt!] ] [Tutorial Level 3 Sub-Quest 3: Friendly-Fire? Difficulty: Intermediate-Low! Objective: Kill 10 yers! Rewards: +2,000 Points!] "¡­" For a moment, I just stared nkly at thest quest. I already knew that people will start killing each other, but prompting them to do that? My eyes looked at the white goblin in new disgust before I sighed. Seems like I need to watch my back even more while hunting now¡­ can''t even the closest associates either. [Tutorial Level 3: Continuity Quest! Difficulty: Easy! Requirements: Any of the following -Bring 1 Kg of Food in the Safe Zone! -Bring 1 Liter of Water in the Safe Zone! -Bring any form of Weapon to the Safe Zone! Rewards: Increases the number of hours you can stay in the zone per task done!] "Seems like it''s quite thorough," I narrowed my eyes on the quests. Unlike the simpler quests before, this one seemed like a well-nned long term game. Though all this did not matter to me as much. Since what was going to increase my survival was the next panel. [Hidden Quest!] [Tutorial Level 3 Hidden Quest 1: Find the Lost Artifact! Difficulty: Insane! Objective: Within the Apocalypse, there lies a certain [Artifact!] that wards off the monsters! Find that [Artifact!] Rewards: 25,000 Points; +5 Attribute Points; [???] ] [Tutorial Level 3 Hidden Quest 2: Save the Chief! Difficulty: Insane! Objective: The chief of the lost tribe has been captured by the monsters. Find the den of the monsters and save the chief! Reward: 25,000 Points; +3 Attribute Points; [Random Earth Blessing!] [Tutorial Level 3 Hidden Quest 3: Kill the doppelganger! Difficulty: Hard! Objective: There is a fake yer among the survivors! Kill that yer before he kills everyone else! Reward: 10,000 Points!] [Tutorial Level 3 Hidden Quest 4: The one who sets his own path! Difficulty: Beyond Insane! Objective: Finish the Tutorial before the time limit! Requirements: -All the monsters should be dead! -All the NPCs should have reached the safe points! -The yer must enter the next tutorial through the hidden pathway in the 3rd Tutorial! Reward: 50,000 Points; +10 Free Attribute Points; [Skill Upgrade Coupon]; [Artifact: Amulet of Pathseeker!]] -Gulp! Gulping, I looked at those quests nkly. Too much information. Just by these 4 quests, I got information that changed my perspective and ns by a huge margin. Unlike before, I can''t simply hunt and save¡­ now I need to hurry up as well before someone else ends up finishing these quests. Andstly¡­ the [Unique Quest!] [Tutorial Level 3 :Unique Quest: The one who rewrites the Apocalypse! Difficulty: Epic! Description: The Apocalypse has descended and the world is meeting its end. There is nothing that can prevent the world from dying. But what if there was a way to change that? To prevent the imminent end and a chance to ovee the impossible? Objective: Change the ending of the Apocalypse! Reward: ???] I observed the [Quests] in front of me. From the start to the end, including the [Unique Quest!] and the [Daily Quests!]. Even though I had only 60¡­ erm.. 55 minutes, I still gave about 25 minutes to read those quests and understand what kind of scenario we were given here. ''At first, it just looks like a monster hunt. But then there is saving the people. There are safe zones, and a hidden story that screams monsters and heroes,'' that was the base if we ignore the [Unique Quest!]. ''Find the artifact, save the chief, kill the boss monster, find the doppleganger, don''t kill your allies,'' I looked at various objectives of the Quests. "It''s like a multiple ending game." And that was the conclusion that I reached at the end. "So, how should I y this out?" I then asked myself this question. Firstly, I need to kill the monsters. For that I would need 2 things, my stats and a weapon. I need to be careful with those first. [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Gift: [0] Body-Talent: [Mortal!] Health: 50/50 Mana: [Not Yet Unlocked!] Attributes: Strength: 3.7 Agility: 3.2 Constitution: 5.0 Stamina: 4.0 Intelligence: 5.0 Wisdom: 6.0 Charm: 3.4 Free Attribute Points: 14 Skills: [Perception!] ] ''Since mental abilities are pretty much useless right now,'' I gave it a bit of thought before allocating 4 for agility, 4 for stamina and 4 strength, leaving 2 points in case of emergency. [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Gift: [0] Body-Talent: [Mortal!] Health: 50/50 Mana: [Not Yet Unlocked!] Attributes: Strength: 7.7 Agility: 7.2 Constitution: 5.0 Stamina: 8.0 Intelligence: 5.0 Wisdom: 6.0 Charm: 3.4 Free Attribute Points: 2 Skills:[Perception!] ] I felt a sudden rise of energy in my body, as if I could break a wall with my bare hands. I tried punching the air a couple of times out of excitement, but paused after I saw what I was doing. Anyways, it seems like, I would not need to worry about the monsters as long as I have a dependable weapon. ''I should create er using GM points,'' I decided that it would be best to leave that for that time. "This solves the initial problem. The next is about saving the people," I gave it a bit of thought and concluded that the best way would be to increase my strength as I move forward with the quests. The stronger I will be, the faster I will be able to save people. Plus with [Perception], I should be able to see through the safest path as well. "About finding the artifact and saving the chief. I guess, it''s only possible with more information." And that concluded my thoughts on what I need to do now. I could use [GM Points!] for creating another skill that would help me in this situation, but then that would be overkill. I do need to save some GM Points for the [Gift!]. Moving on with that, I then looked at the [Bettings!] -Ranking Betting! -Survival Betting! -Minor Betting! -Growth Betting! Ranking Betting: -Bet on the yers who could possibly be on the top 10 rankings! { x2 GM Points } -Bet on the yers who could possibly be on the top 5 Rankings! { x10 GM Points } -Bet on the yers who could possibly be on the top 3 Ranking! { x30 GM Points } -Bet on the yer who could possibly be the top Ranker of the Tutorial level 3! { x100 GM Points } Survival Betting! -Bet on the number of yers who would survive for 24 hours! {x2 GM Points} -Bet on the number of yers who would survive for 48 hours! {x3 GM Points} -Bet on the number of yers who would survive for 72 hours! {x5 GM Points} -Bet on the number of yers who would survive for 96 hours! {x10 GM Points} -Bet on the number of yers who would survive for 120 hours! {x20 GM Points} -Bet on the number of yers who would survive for 144 hours! {x25 GM Points} -Bet on the number of yers who would survive by the end of the Tutorial Level 3! {x50 GM Points} Minor Betting! -Bet on the yer who would save the most people! { x20 GM Points} -Bet on the yer who would kill the most monster! { x20 GM Points} -Bet on the yer who would kill the most yers! { x20 GM Points} -Bet on the yer who would have the most extra [Safe Time] points at the end of the Tutorial! { x20 GM Points} Growth Betting! -Bet on the yer (alive at the end of the game) with the most growth! { x50 GM Points} -Bet on the yer (alive at the end of the game) with the least growth! { x50 GM Points} After reading through the entire text twice, I found only two that suited best for my bet. Tempting as they all were, these were the only two I could control more or less, without showing off my powers. [Minor Betting: Bet on the yer with maximum [Safe Time]: 300 Points on (Adrian John Rodriguez)!] [Growth Betting: Bet on the yer with most Growth: 300 GM Points on (Adrian John Rodriguez)!] [GM Points: 170!] I sighed as I shook my head before waiting for the time to end. It was about time, we began the next level. Chapter 9: [Tutorial Level 3: Ready for battle!] [Tutorial Level 3 Quest: Points Collection! Difficulty: Hard! Objective: Have 10,000 Points by the end of the Quest Time! Time limit: 168 Hours! Penalty: Death! Reward: [Safe Box!] [Random Box!] [+2 Free Attribute Points!] ] [Tutorial Level 3: Continuity Quest! Difficulty: Easy! Requirements: Any of the following -Bring 1 Kg of Food in the Safe Zone! -Bring 1 Liter of Water in the Safe Zone! -Bring any form of Weapon to the Safe Zone! Rewards: Increases the number of hours you can stay in the zone per task done!] Though unlike I was expecting, the [Sub-Quest!] did not appear. Perhaps it was a quest that would be triggered when you do something? Like killing a yer or saving an NPC? [23: 59: 32!] The active timer showed the number of hours we had in the safe zone, and the green lighted area around the campus was probably the safe zone. I looked at the goblin who simply stayed quiet, observing the yers. I guess both the quests exin the basics to the yers. You have to hunt and survive if you want to stay alive. "Luke. What should we do now?" Julia asked as she tried to get closer to Luke. Her teary eyes would be pitiful if not for that shirt that had been unbuttoned twice from the top. It was obvious what she was trying to do. "We should stay together-" Luke was about to speak before something interrupted him. "We are so lucky to have you Boss!" "Let''s go hunting!" "I am scared so I will stay here for now." "Let''s go! We will hunt together with boss!" Fake cheers surrounded the red haired guy. He was the same person, Rey, who has collected more than a 1000 points in the previous tutorial. And looking from the strange heat at the edge of his hairs, I guess he was either [Contracted!] or had a mana rted talent. ''A pushover or a viin?'' I wondered as I saw him going out of the safe zone with a dozen other people. He seemed to be enjoying the air of superiority around him, and he seemed to be enjoying his role as a ''hero'' here. People like him are the first to die¡­ or just turn psychopath and kill everyone around them. "I hate him already," Mark spoke with an irritated expression, while Alice observed Luke asking, "Let''s ignore them. How should we proceed? Do you have a n?" "We will need to scout the area first. And then make a n before attacking the monsters. Adrian, you will be our front runner again while I and Mark protect you. Our first target would be to get a good skill for Alice since she can use mana, and then slowly expand our hunt so that we can all have enough points by the end." Luke''s n was basic but good. It would help us gather more points and also increase our chances of survival. But that would hinder my own ns¡­ "But I don''t think I will be helpful in this situation," I made an apologetic face before exining that my skill is limited to a very small area and I was pretty much on the weaker end of the ss. "I know that but-" Luke was still trying to get me in but the other guy, Reyan, spoke out first, "I have a skill that decreases my presence considerably. I think I can help with scouting." He was trying to take my ce as he looked at me with a slight mocking smile. He was with Julia, who was also looking at me as if I were a baggage to them. "It''s decided then. Reyan can take Adrian''s ce. Also, my [Gift] increases my speed considerably so I think I can help attract the monsters and bait them for killing," and the third guy, Tristan, spoke out trying to hit the final nail in the coffin. Alice narrowed her eyes at the Trio, while Mark was about to hit them. But before he could do anything, Luke spoke out, "Well¡­ if you put it that way then I don''t think we can do much. I promise, I will help you out to survive this level Adrian. It''s the least I can do in return." I looked at the eyes of the ''decisive leader'' of the ''perfect'' team, before nodding with a humble smile," it''s okay Luke. I understand. I will be waiting here for you then." Mark wanted to retort but the teacher stopped him. Alice wasn''t happy but she too needed to survive so she did not disagree. While I just observed them from a distance as they discussed their n while leaving the safe zone. I don''t hate them for abandoning me. Since I was pretty much going to do the same if they weren''t useful to me. ''I think I should wait till everyone is gone,'' I thought as I stretched a little. Looking around, most of the people had already left, while others were slowly leaving. And about 10 minutester, I was the only one standing in the safe zone. [Would you like to convert 1 GM point into 100 Points?] Looking at the conversion, I then turned to the Goblin in the air, who was constantly observing me. "Come here. I want to use the [Points Shop!]" I spoke in a dominant tone, different from the timid tone that I usually had. "Kuku. As I thought. You hadpleted the [Hidden Quests] too. What did you get? Was it a skill? Or points? Hehe," heughed sheepishly with that ugly smile of his, but I didn''t care as I opened the [Shop] and checked for items that I would need in this tutorial. Took me a few minutes, before I came across a few things that I would require. [Trusty Steel Dagger! Grade: D Attack: 100! Durability: 200/200! Effect: -Increases Agility by 2! Cost: 3000 Points!] [Stealth Cloak! Grade: C Effect: Decreases the presence of the user greatly! Cost: 5000 Points!] [Stealth Potion!] Grade: D Effect: Decreases the presence of the user greatly for 2 Hours! Cost: 500 Points!] [Inventory Pouch! Grade: F Effect: Allows the user to store any item in a subspace of [1 x 1 x 1] meters! Cost: 1000 Points!] [Would you like to convert 100 GM Points for 10000 Points?] It felt like a waste, but it should give me a head start in my [Quest!]. "Just how many points did you amass in the second tutorial?" The goblin was bbergasted as he looked at me. His eyes were really bulging out as he observed me, while I just put on the cloak, keeping those 2 [Stealth Potions!] in the [Inventory!]. "I should start my hunt as well. Can''t let the others take over me," I looked at the apocalyptic city in front me, as the corner of my lips curled a little. For what should have made me pass out of fear, was now making me excited. It was ironic to say the least. Stepping outside the safe zone, I used [Perception!] to see as far as I could. I wondered if I could see any monsters in the distance, and yeah, there were. Just that group, that red haired guy''s group was killing them. On the right side, I saw Luke''s group also fighting against a single green goblin, while I sighed at their disy of battle. It wasn''t really appealing so I shifted my gaze to a bit farther where a bunch of my ssmates were hiding. But since that was boring as well¡­ "Let''s just go around the School and see if there are any monsters there," for now I just wanted to hunt peacefully. Chapter 10: [Goblin hunting!] [North East Hunting Area: Luke''s Party!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [+200 Points!] A crisp notification of the [System] appeared in front of Alice as she killed the monster held down by the three boys. "Finally!" Tristan spoke as he wiped the sweat off his forehead while moving away the monster. "How many points did you get?" Luke asked as he too got off the goblin they were pinning down. "200," and Alice answered, as she let go of the short rusty dagger they stole from the goblin. After a painstaking nning and efforts of 15 minutes, they were finally able to kill the goblin. It was taxing them both mentally and physically but with thebined efforts of everyone, the burden lessened considerably. "5000 Points for the fireball skill is daylight robber!" Julia grumbled as she counted that they had to kill 19 more of these monsters before they could increase their killing efficiency. It wasn''t fair. But they didn''t have any other options either. "Now, now. We should be grateful that we have enough people to work together and survive. Let''s take a 10 minute break before continuing. Given our speed, we should be able to reach our goal by the end of the day," the teacher, Mr Harrison, spoke as he adjusted his sses before proceeding to use [Heal] on the tired students. Their synergy was good. As long as they didn''tnd in any unnecessary trouble, they should be able to survive this Tutorial as well. "I wonder what Adrian is doing," Mike spoke out as he looked back at the direction where the school was. Even now he was fighting the idea of leaving his friend behind, especially after he helped them survive the 2nd Tutorial. But not everyone liked his words. "Forget about that twerp, will you? It''s not a world where a weakling like him will survive anyway. You should choose better friends Mike. People on whom you can depend upon," Tristan voiced his opinion. For him, Adrian was already dead. It would be better if other people in this party understood that fact as well. "You-" Mark was about to fight when Julia chimed in, "I know he is your friend, but can you be a bit more practical? Have you seen that guy''s face? I bet he might even piss his pants in front of these monsters. Trust me Mike, no matter how good natured Adrian was, he is nothing but baggage now. You can''t change that fact." Though hearing those words, made Mark re up even more. He looked at Julia and Tristan for a few moments before turning to Luke. And when he saw that nobody was supporting him, he made up his mind. "I am leaving this party." ¡­ [South Hunting Area: Behind the Milton High School!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [+400 Points!] [Your Contractee (Adrian John Rodriguez) has killed an F-Grade Monster!] [+5 GM Points!] [Your Contractee (Adrian John Rodriguez) has killed an F-Grade Monster!] [+5 GM Points!] "Double Kill!" I spoke out with a bit of an excited smile before looking at the two fallen Goblins. I knew it was the right decision to hunt behind the school area. [Tutorial Level 2 Sub-Quest 2: Kill! Difficulty: Hard! Objective: Kill at least 100 Monsters! Progress: 12/100! Rewards: [Skill: Hunt!] ] The [Sub-Quest!] only appeared after I killed 10 monsters, so I guess that''s the requirement for this one. While looking at that quest, my eyes then shifted at another part of the [System]. [Points: 2400!] ''Hmmm. Should I buy something?'' I thought about it. But then I decided to postpone it until I killed at least 50 of the monsters, or was forced into a condition where I had to use the [Shop!]. "I guess that''s enough for a break. Let''s continue," I mumbled as I stretched and closed the shop before continuing with my hunt again. What I did was simple. First decrease my presence with the cloak and the potion, then slowly approach a goblin''s back. Then using the enhanced speed and strength, I pushed everything into a single sh, killing the goblin at once. It was a simple method but worked like a charm. Even the [Trusty Steel Dagger!] sliced the head of the goblin with ease. [Trusty Steel Dagger! Grade: D Attack: 100 Durability: 176/200 Effect: -Increases Agility by 2] The durability however was decreasing 2 per sh, so I guess this shouldst as long as the quest itself. And with that in mind, I moved on to the next den of monsters I could find. [Perception!] "There. There and¡­ there. All right," I smiled as I then hastened my steps towards the nearest monster. Killing monsters in itself wasn''t hard. But the fact that I had to make sure that my stealth is maintained while I hunt them, was. If by chance any of the Goblin happen to notice me, then I might end up getting in a fight that would hinder my growth time. Not something that I would want right now. Another thing that I was looking for while hunting were the NPCs. Though I did not encounter even a single one, I was sure that there would be some of them here. Perhaps they were afraid of the monsters outside and were hiding in the buildings? [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin] So, I decided to clear the area around and then check one of the houses. Even if I can''t find any one, perhaps I can find some food to increase [Save Time] I have. "??" Though before I could do that, I encountered something unexpected. ''Is that Goblin different from the rest?'' I saw a muscr goblin, who looked twice as menacing as the other goblins. While normal Goblins carried daggers and wooden maces, this one had a spear. He was also wearing fur over his upper body and had a toothed ne that seemed to be somewhat special. Looking at him from a distance, I pondered over a few seconds before deciding it would be better to kill the 4 Goblins around him first. If I can''t lure them away, then I will give up trying to kill that special Goblin as well. For now that is. ''How should I lure them?'' I pondered over the method before looking at the broken rocks on the ground. A certain basic but feasible idea appeared in my mind. Picking up a rock from the ground, I then tried the most basic trick. I threw the rock in a direction away from me, prompting the goblins to look into that direction. Two of the Goblins, who were closer, moved towards the rock with a focused expression. While those away, just stood there with a guarded look on their face. Moving towards the ones who were a bit away¡­ -sh! -sh! [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] -Thud! Thud! The bodies of the Goblin fell simultaneously, attracting the attention of the other three, while I ran away from there to nearest house that I could see. Since my presence was almost nil, I did not need to worry much about being found out, but still I hid behind one of the trees inside the garden of the house and waited for the Goblins toe. And then, a smile appeared on my face as I saw the two goblins entering first. They jumped across the gate, instead of opening it, and began searching for me. Their eyes looked around as they produced strange noises before they moved in different directions within the garden. Luckily or unluckily, the other goblin still did not enter the garden. Not wasting this opportunity, I ran towards the closest Goblin. [You have Killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] Ignoring the notification, I ran towards the other goblin who was turning around. He has already seen me and was preparing to attack, but before he could do so. [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] Turning around immediately, I looked for any signs of that special goblin. And not finding him in the garden yet, I sighed in relief. ''Seems like he isn''t as intelligent, either,'' I thought as I slowly walked towards the wall and jumped before looking out for him. And yeah, he was pretty much there, confused as he looked at the wall in front of him. "Nice," I smiled as I moved back into the garden, and tried calling out the white goblin who was managing the entire Tutorial. "Kuku. Seems like you are having fun," the goblin spoke, rming me a little. I was worried that he would rm the warrior goblin but his next words calmed me down. "Don''t worry. Only the yers can see or hear me. Anyways, I take it as you want to use the [Shop]?" He asked. I nodded before browsing through the shop until I came across something simr to what I wanted. [Weapon Enhancement Potion! Grade: E Effect: Increases the attack and effects of the weapon by 20% for 2 Hours Price: 1000 Points] Buying that potion, I then immediately used it on the dagger. Even though I was sure that I could kill that goblin in one strike, I still wanted to be sure with it. Slowly and stealthily, I then jumped across the wall, and moved behind that goblin. Perhaps because he sensed me somewhat, he increased his guard even more, and was prepared for battle. ''One step at a time,'' I held my breath and moved closer to him. My eyes observing his movements and my body preparing to run away any moment now. And as I reached within range, I mustered all my strength and courage and¡­ Chapter 11: [Struggle!] -sh! The dagger only reached half the neck before getting stuck. My eyes widened as I gasped and let the dagger go. -sh! The next sh was that goblin''s. He used his spear, hitting me as hard as possible, pushing me to the nearby wall. -Boom! -Thud! And thrown at the wall, my body hit against it before I fell on the ground. My eyes barely open, I saw that goblin turning around as he red in my direction. His eyes filled with fury, he took his first step towards me. As he walked, he took out my dagger from his neck and threw it on the ground. [HP: 10/50!] ''Damn it!'' My body was in pain, I looked at that guying towards me. I wanted to move but the pain was rendering me unable to move even a single step. Fuck! Forget about moving a step, I can''t even breathe properly without feeling stings all over my chest. ''Move! Move! Move! Move!¡­'' I cursed under my breath as I pulled my entire body and barely sat against the wall. My entire body felt like it was going to break any moment now. But I won''t sumb like this. ''Goblin¡­ where are you¡­'' I tried calling that white goblin since I was going to need a potion here. But, despite trying to call him a few times, he still did not appear. And this other Goblin, he reached my foot as he observed me. [Basic Healing Potion Grade: F Effect: Restores 20 HP Cost: 100 GM Points!] If the [Points] shop won''t work, then I will use the [GM Points]. I immediately bought the potion and drank it in one gulp. Perhaps because the stealth was still in effect, the Goblin couldn''t see what I was doing. Instead, he slowly raised his spear, preparing for an attack. -sh! And then he shed, while I rolled to the left, barely avoiding his attack. While my health was still not in perfect condition, I was now able to move around with some effort. Standing up with haste, I found him confused as he looked around with a rage filled expression shing around everything with that spear of his. He was now carefully observing his surroundings. Though I couldn''t care less. Ignoring him, I walked where he threw my dagger, picked it up before looking at him. "Oi! Are you still going to ignore me?" I called that white goblin again, but even this time, he did not appear. I was a bit irritated but I needed to finish this battle before someone else found him. ''Let''s end this,'' I sighed as I was quite tired. One step at a time, I moved towards him, just like before. But this time, I was going to make sure that he would die. The dagger on his neck was now bleeding a lot so he was probably weaker than before. -Thud! As I walked closer to him, I saw him falling on one of his knees, as he barely held his body. Even though he was strong, it was pitiful. Even though it was pitiful, I didn''t stop moving until I reached in front of him. He looked up at me, with his eyes narrowed. I could see that he was losing strength fast¡­ but the final blow is going to be mine¡­ -sh! [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Goblin Warrior!] [+2000 Points!] [+50 GM Points!] "Congrattions yer Adrian! You are the first one among the yers here who killed an E-Grade Monster!" And that white-Goblin finally appeared, with that ugly smile on his face as usual. For a few seconds, I wanted to kill that son of a bitch, but¡­ I don''t think I am capable enough of that, yet. "Open the shop," I spoke coldly as I looked at him, deepening his smile. He was enjoying every bit of it, and every bit of his act was making me disgusted. The shop appeared in front of me as 10s of items appeared in front of me. My eyes looked at them with a deep look, as I started processing everything that was present. [Points: 8300!] [Sharp Ivory Dagger Grade: C Attack: 400 Durability: 1000/1000 Effects: -Increases Strength by 5 -Piercing effect increased by 5% Cost: 15,000 Points!] I looked at that dagger, before closing my eyes for a moment as I observed the white screen in front of me. [GM Points: 155!] [Would you like to convert 100 GM Points into 10,000 Points?] Clicking yes, I then bought the [Sharp Ivory Dagger!], and 4 [Basic Health Potions!] for 2000 Points, leaving me with 1,300 Points in hand. [Basic Agility Potion Grade: F Effect: Increases Agility by 5 for 15 minutes! Cost: 1000 Points!] And finally, I brought this, before storing it in the [Inventory!]. -Smack! Smacking my cheeks with my hands, I then look at the distance at the group of Goblins, walking towards here. They were about 500 meters away, so they were just another group of wandering monstersing this way. "Keke. This is it. This is how the tutorial should be! Entertain us, yer!" The Goblin spoke out loud as I walked towards the Goblins, my eyes still focused on the battle that just happened before. Since it has been only an hour, the effect of the [Stealth Potion] was still there. And since there was no [Goblin Warrior!] among them, I walked without any hesitation towards them. 500 meters. 250 Meters 100 Meters 50 Meters. 10 Meters. Walking one step at a time, I passed by each and every one of them. Unable to notice, they continued to walk as well. And when I reached thest one. [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] rmed, the rest of the goblins turned around¡­ [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] Two more bodies fell, while others focused on me, drawing their weapons. This time, I did not hide, I did not run away. [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] Half of the Zombies were dead, while the rest of half was agitated as they looked at me with fear. I could see their hesitation, while I moved forward. I did not notice this earlier, but they weren''t as fast as they looked. Even an average human should be able to outrun them if not for the fear they create. [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] -KREE!!! Out of rage, one of them jumped at me but I easily side stepped, dodging his attacks. Was it because of my increased Agility, or were they slower due to fear? I did not know. All I knew was¡­ [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] They were weak. I shouldn''t have struggled that much. [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] And then thest two goblins ran¡­ they ran with fear. But I can''t let that happen. [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] The bodies of thest two goblins fell on the ground, leaving empty silence in the area, as I looked at my body that still seemed weak for some reason. ''I shouldplete the [Side-Quest] first,'' I gave it a bit of a thought before moving towards the area where there were more monsters. Though, for some reason, my eyes searched for another [Goblin Warrior!]. Chapter 12: [Hunt!] [North West: Luke''s Party!] "Nom Nom. I wonder how much more time it will take Nom nom. It''s already dark, so we should return now, let''s try again tomorrow," the one to speak was Mr Harrison. He ate the sandwich from the shop, while looking at the students in front of him. It''s already been 4 hours since the tutorial started, and they have hunted 9 monsters in total. But now that the night was upon them, hunting became much more dangerous due tock of any light source. "I agree. I have been feeling chills all over my body, just by staying here," Julia spoke as she shuddered while looking at the empty snack shop they were raiding just now. "I want to return as well," Alice, who spoke as little as possible, also voiced her opinion on this. Though she was afraid of the goblins, she was more afraid of the two boys in her party who were continuously ogling her whenever they had the chance to. Luke, the leader of this party, observed the expressions of the rest of the party members, and nodded in return. "All right, let''s return now. We will continue our hunt, tomorrow," he spoke, as the rest of them stood up. The party took a bunch of food supplies and cautiously walked back towards the safe zone. Even though they were healed by Mr Harrison, the build of fatigue was something that the spell cannot remove. Slowly and steadily, the party reached back to the main area where about 30-40 students were sleeping. It seemed like everyone had the same idea. Though since there were a lot more students than just this, it seemed many have still not returned yet. "Mark!" Luke called out Mark who was sitting by himself with a deadpan expression. Hearing Luke''s voice, Mark turned to him, before giving him a slight re. "Hey! d to see you safe. Where is Adrian? I don''t see him anywhere," Luke continued as he observed the area trying to search for Adrian. Luke''s party also followed behind him and reached Mark. "He wasn''t here," Mark spoke in a low voice. "What?" Asked Luke. "I said, he wasn''t here when I came. I asked around but nobody has seen him or knows where he is¡­ he hasn''t even returned yet," Mark''s voice was getting dry by the second. He simply stared at the entrance hoping that Adrian would somehow appear here. But as time passed, that hope only vanished. Luke understood the meaning behind Mark''s words. He went out on his own. And he is probably dead by now. "I guess. It is tragic," Luke spoke with a half serious look. He had a more annoyed lookpared to a saddened one. "Tragic?" And Mark turned to Luke with a sudden shock. His friend could be dead, and all Luke has to say is¡­ that? And then a re reced Mark''s shock as he shouted," WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN TRAGIC?! HE WAS YOUR FRIEND TOO!!" -Boom!!!! Mark tried punching Luke but was stopped by Tristan. "Stop being a cry baby, Mark. Your friend was baggage, even he knew that. That is why he went out to try his luck. It''s tragic that he couldn''t change his fate, but that''s all. Sure if he were to stay here, hiding and leeching off Luke, then he could have lived more days. But tell me honestly, how long do you think he could have survived anyway?" Tristan spoke with a mocking smile as he looked at Mark. Mark narrowed his eyes on him before observing Luke," is this the type of person you always were?" Even though Mark was angry, so much as to kill Tristan, right now another feeling prevailed. And that was of disgust and disappointment. He couldn''t believe that he was friends with people like them. "Let''s go Luke. We need to rest, too," Julia grabbed Luke by hand and took him away, as the rest of the party followed behind them. The only one left was Alice, who had conflicted emotions on her face. On one hand, she too hated the party. Their behavior and ways were disgusting to say the least, but on the other hand she was also dependent upon them since she needed to survive. In the end, the need for survival prevailed over morals. And she silently walked away from Mark, as he just sat there with his eyes closed. If one can lean in closer¡­ they might even hear him sobbing and apologizing to Adrian. ¡­ [Deeper into the South Region!] [Sub-Quest Completed: Kill!] [New Skill: Hunt!] [Skill: Hunt Grade: C Effect: Mark a target of your choice! When fighting against that target, All physical stats increase by 30! Cooldown: 3 Days!] I looked at the dead body of the [Goblin Warrior!] with a sigh. It wasn''t as fulfilling as I thought. Even though I killed him, much more easily than before, it didn''t feel as satisfying as I thought it would. "I guess, that''s as far as revenge goes," I sighed before looking back into the moonlit night. Despite the darkness, I was able to see clearly. I guess I underestimated the utility of [Perception!] quite a lot. "It''s safe now!" I spoke loudly signaling the NPCs toe out of hiding. And 18 people appeared out of hiding, as they slowly walked towards me. They had reverence in their eyes, and they observed me as if I were an Angel sent by heaven to them. ''No matter how many times I see their looks, it''s always awkward,'' I just simply turned around and began walking. Since we were pretty much a walking group of meat for the monsters, stealth was useless. And thus, I put the cloak in the [Inventory!]. ''We should reach the safe zone in 15 minutes,'' I thought as I recalled how I stumbled upon one of the NPCs, as he was being chased by a monster. One thing led to another, and I was able to gather a group of NPCs, hiding together. Convincing them toe with me to the safe house wasn''t hard since all I had to do was feed them to win them over. Though protecting them throughout the path was a pain since there were more monsters than usual on the path. But since I could gather more points, it wasn''t all that bad. [Points: 47,400!] [GM Points: 1155!] I wanted to buy a lot of things, but I decided to wait until I reached the [Safe Zone]. It''s only been 4 hours since the Tutorial started after all. Having enough GM Points, I thought of moving up my game by creating a [Skill] that would help me hunt even [D-Grade] monsters. At least that''s what my objective is for tomorrow. ''What could be the best skill that would allow me to both hunt lower rank monsters faster and allow me to fight a [D-Grade] one easily?'' I thought about it as I looked at [Hunt!]. It was suited for a one-vs-one but that''s like 2 monsters in the tutorials. I needed something else. Something convenient. And as we walked forward, we finally reached the [Safe Zone!], where the rest of the yers were currently sleeping. "Adrian?!!" But before I could even take a step in, someone at the side of the door looked at me with a bbergasted look on his face. "Mark?" Chapter 13: [Arguments] "¡­" He stared at the number of people entering the safe zone with a bbergasted look. Slowly turning towards me again, he then asked, "NPCs?" I nodded as I exined how I didn''t want to be depending upon others and went on my own, towards the south area behind the school. Though it was dangerous, I could barely avoid the monsters. My n was to kill a couple of monsters before running away but while hiding in the houses, I stumbled upon the NPCs there, triggering the quest. "How many points did you get?" Asked Luke who seemed to be more focused on the [Rewards] than on the fact that I survived. "5000," I answered since they were going to get the same [Sub-Quest!] anyway. "5000?!!" "That many?!" "I could barely get 200 after killing a goblin!" "¡­" "What''s his name?" "Tch! Lucky bastard!" Astonishments and curses were thrown at me from the crowd. They looked at me with greed and envy, while I turned back to Mark and asked, "What about you guys? Did you get anything?" Given I was able to cross 50,000 Points, they should be around 10,000 right? It gets easier as you y smart. "I don''t know. I left the party after we killed a goblin. I¡­ wasn''t feeling very well," he spoke as he looked at me with a bright smile, contradicting the sad words he was speaking. "Hey Adrian. Will it be all right if you can buy a [Skill: Fireball!] for Alice? It would enhance her fighting power by a huge margin," Luke spoke as he observed me, hoping I would follow his words. Though before I could answer him, someone else raged out. "Are you out of your mind? Don''t you feel any shame in those words?!!" Mark was angry. Enraged, to say the least. His eyes red at Luke, given how he was behaving right now. "Shut up Mark. I am not talking to you," Luke answered with an annoyed tone as he continued," I am just trying my best to find the most optimal solution for our survival. This is for all of us." Hero Complex? Or was it worse? "Adrian was it? Can you please help us out here?" Julia spoke, making a cute expression. I don''t know if she was trying to seduce me or not, but it wasn''t working. I just ignored her before looking at the two boys behind her, observing me with a rather jealous look. "Adrian?" Luke spoke again, this time with a narrowed look. Was he the same Luke we knew? Did the apocalypse change him? Or was there something else? I wondered. "What happened to him?" I turned to Alice, who was silent in this whole exchange. She knew Luke better than I did, so I wondered if she knew something. "He changed after the apocalypse. Those guys kept bad mouthing you all the time, and he just listened. In the beginning, he was barely trying to defend you but as we hunted more Goblins, he became serious and started looking at everything objectively." Alice summarized what happened. "Alice. What are you trying to do?" Not liking what she said, Luke was about tosh out at her, but Alice just looked at him with a hint of sadness and pity in her eyes. "Don''t try to be a saint, Alice. You too kept quiet when we were trashing this Twerp. And isn''t he just lucky that he got that quest? Heck even we can get the points the same way tomorrow," Tristan stopped hiding his nature, as he observed me with pure jealousy. ''So what kind of expression should I carry here? What kind of face should I make? Remorse? Disgust? Or should I worry? Perhaps I couldsh out on Tristan? Or even take Alice from that team since I can help her out?'' I kept thinking as I looked around. And perhaps because I was the one with the most points here, I ended up bing the center of attention of all the people here. Even those who did not know me, were now paying attention to me. ''It''s such a drag.'' In the end, I was bored of this. "I guess, I understand what is going on right now," I said as I turned to Luke first," I understand you Luke. We must think logically and depend less on our emotions. It''s the most optimal way of survival as a group together." Luke smiled as he nodded before speaking,"it''s d that you understand-" "But," I interrupted him as I continued," when you guys left me behind, you also removed me from your group. It wasn''t a wrong move, I agree with that as well. But from that point, I had to think for myself. So, what I earn and what I don''t, whether I live or die, it''s also my own concern." He had a nk look on his face. Unable to retort, he just looked at me with his mouth half opened. "I don''t owe you anything Luke. We are friends and I do want to help you out but¡­" I gave him a humble smile," we must think logically and depend less on our emotions. It''s the most optimal way of survival after all." "¡­" I could see the trio dumbfounded at my words. Even though they wanted to speak, they didn''t utter a single word. I could only smile at them before turning to Mark, "Did you eat something? I got some frozen food on my way." "You can''t do that!" The one speaking was Julia. Her eyes were teary as she looked at me with a betrayed expression. Bitch sure knows how to act. "Do what?" I asked. "Leave us after you earned some points!" She spoke as if I were the one responsible for their group. "What''s wrong with that? It''s the same logic your leader follows," I spoke, getting a bit irritated. I wanted to rest already, but things are just getting dragged for no reason. "You-" "I am leaving as well," Alice spoke as she looked at Luke before turning at me. Her eyes had a rather determined look, but it didn''t concern me. Though I thanked her on the inside for getting the attention away from me. "Let''s go," I spoke to Mark, moving away from them, while Luke was still shocked at Alice''s words. Under the gaze of everyone present here, I and Mark sat near the entrance where I took out a bunch of canned food from the bag that I found on my way here. It wasn''t tasty but it was edible, so we filled our stomach with that. "Thank you Adrian," Mark spoke, his eyes filled with sadness," thank you for being alive." I just smiled at him, before taking out the rest of the cans and standing up as I looked at the group of NPCs, sitting in a corner, away from the rest of the people here. "??" Mark looked at me with confusion before I spoke,"e with me." And then both of us walked towards the NPCs. Reaching out to the elder man, who seemed to be their leader, I spoke," it won''t fill your stomach, but here. You guys should eat something too." The yers looked at me with an interested gaze. Their eyes were narrowed at what I was doing. "But¡­ it''s yours¡­" that man looked at me as if I were an Angel. He tried pushing the food back to me, but I just gave it to him, before looking at the rest of the NPCs there. "It''s fine. Plus, I need your help with something as well," I spoke with a calm look, making them all observe me with a question filled with faces. "Thank you," the elder took the food before asking," what is it that you want, Sir?" "Nothing big. But can you lend a couple of people? I don''t have enough hands and wanted to get more food. It would be a big help," I spoke as I looked at them, while they gave me a conflicted look. "I will do it!" "I will too!" "As long as it''s not fighting¡­ I will too." Three of the men stood up, before moving towards me. Looking at the elder, he seemed to be sighing at their vigor. Though he did not disagree with them. He simply looked at me before speaking, "Please protect them. I will leave them in your hands." "I will," I nodded as I then looked at the three and spoke," it''s still night, so you guys sleep. We will leave early at dawn." "Yes sir!" x3 I just chuckled at their enthuthiasm before passing the rest of the food. And then turning to Mark and speaking, "Let''s get you geared as well. You are going to do the most work as well." His eyes nked questioning what I was speaking, but I was pretty sure of it. While I could work alone, I needed someone to have a cover for me. Someone who can put a front for me while I do the hunting. At first I was thinking of Luke but he was too much of an asshole. Then the teacher¡­ Mr. Harrison¡­ something about him never felt right. As for Alice, she was the perfect option if not for her [Contract!]. I would like to be with someone whom I can give a [Contract!], rather than with someone whom I can''t. Mark wasn''t the best option but given the situation, he was the only option I had. Whether I will give him the [Contract] in the future or not is something that only time will tell. Looking at the still confused Mark, I then asked him,"Hey Mark. What''s your [Gift]?" Chapter 14: [Mana!] I looked at the city with pity in my eyes. For what it used to look like and what it had be. ''I wonder how thendlord is doing,'' I thought as I recalled the only person I had that cared after me. Perhaps she found it too pitiful that I was an orphan. She halved my rent and also helped me with finding a side job. That also reminds me of my Co-worker, Emily. I wonder if she survived this mess or not. She was fun to tease. "No matter how many times I think of it, it''s odd," Mark said as he too looked at the city in front of us. His eyes narrowed at a couple of buildings before he looked at me. "Odd?" I asked curiously. "There is not even a single soul in this world other than us. Even the people you found have that [NPC] tag over their head. Despite being the same city, it''s creepy that it''s so empty," he spoke as he observed me. This made me think carefully about it. And then I realized that it was true. Even when I was going through the houses, I did not find anyone there. At first I thought that they died but not a single damn survivor? Now that''s not simple at all. "Either we are the only ones who transferred, or everyone is ying the game in their own field," I said my thoughts in the end. The chances that they all died were too slim to be considered. "So, you think we can meet them?" Alice, who joined us after separating from Luke''s group, spoke with a hopeful gaze. She had already given the 1800 Points that she had earned back to Luke, so he could only watch her leave. ''Ah! She has a home to return to. She must have been worried about her family,'' I had a slight pity in my eyes, before I shook my head. Being an orphan, I wondered if it was a better thing for me? I had no one to worry about. And then I had a pitiful look on my face, his time for myself. "I guess, we should be able to. As long as we clear the scenario that is," Mark wasn''t too happy with this. But he tried to have a positive outlook in this messed up situation. ''Mark has a brother if I remember correctly,'' I thought before turning to Alice whose house was nearest to the school. "You visited your house?" I asked curiously and she nodded before speaking," we did but there was no one there. No signs of battle, or any form of irrationality either. At first I was scared but Luke said that they could have escaped somewhere else. Theck of battle hinted at his deduction while also giving me hope." "It''s a fucked up situation," I sighed and they both nodded. My eyes then looked at Mark once again. Since I wasn''t reallyfortable with this topic, I tried to focus on something else. And that was on Mark''s gift. ''A Mortal Grade-4 gift that increases the user''s aiming ability, huh?'' I recalled what he said before, and I thought that it was a good gift. At least for the tutorial, that is. "Since we have you as well, it should make things easier," Mark said as he looked at Alice with a bright expression. Though Alice only sighed, while I looked at Mark and spoke, "Don''t do that Mark." "Huh? What?" Mark looked at me confused before I spoke again," don''t put your life in someone else''s hands. That mindset will kill you faster than anything else." He looked at me with his eyes widening before he realized what I said. And then as if having an epiphany, he nodded at me. Alice on the other hand spoke," I will be sleeping first then. Wake me up when you guys leave." I saw her leaving to sleep on the hard ground, while Mark also took a sleeping position. On the other hand I looked at the yers on the ground in front of me. Many were sleeping in groups, while a few of the yers were looking through the [Shop!]. [Points: 52,400!] I tried converting Points into GM points, but that didn''t work. I kind of expected that but it didn''t feel good at all. There was also a long way before I could buy the [Gift!] that I was looking forward to. Plus there was this too¡­ [Tutorial Level 3 Hidden Quest 3: Kill the doppelganger! Difficulty: Hard! Objective: There is a fake yer among the survivors! Kill that yer before he kills everyone else! Reward: 10,000 Points!] ''It''s troublesome,'' I sighed as I looked at thest of the few yers going to sleep as well. And since that white-goblin was now free¡­ "Open the shop for me," I looked in his direction, while he flew with that smile of his," what do you want to buy?" "Show me the most expensive things first," I spoke as I looked at what the Tutorial Shop had to offer. [Mana Enhancement Serum! Grade: A Effects: -Increases Mana Proficiency of the user by 20%! -Increases Mana Regeneration by 100%! -Increases Mana by 1000 -Increases Intelligence by 100 Requirements: The user must have unlocked Mana! Cost: 500,000 Points!] [Mana Sword! Grade: A Attack: 12500 + 200 x Mana Infused! Durability: 500k/500k Effects: -Strength + 50 -Agility +50 -Intelligence +50 Cost: 400,000 Points!] [Clover of Pyrus! Grade: B Effects: Increases the Fire Resistance of the User by 70%! Cost: 350,000 Points!] Three items at the top, while a few more below as I scrolled down. Observing each of them properly, I kept going on, until I reached down enough. I found a few things interesting, while others weren''t that appealing to me. Didn''t take long until I reached the point where things cost less than 50,000 Points. Still, I continued scrolling until I found something that had a bit more appeal than others. [Mana Unlocking Serum! Grade: D Effects: Unlock the Mana potential of the user! Cost: 30,000 Points!] I gave it a bit of thought before I decided to buy it. While I don''t need mana right now, having it isn''t a bad thing since it opens up a huge load of other options for me. "Thank you for the purchase, user," the goblin smiled before vanishing from there as I looked at the serum in my hands before trying something else. [Mana Unlocking Serum! Grade: B Effects: -Unlock the Mana Potential of the User! -Increases the Mana Regeneration by 100%! -Increases the user''s Intelligence by 20! -Increases the user''s Wisdom by 20! Would you like to make changes for 10,000 GM Points?] ''That''s a bit costly,'' I thought before smiling and adding a few more things in it. [Mana Unlocking Serum! Grade: B Effects: -Unlock the Mana Potential of the User! -Increases the Mana Regeneration by 100%! -Increases the user''s Intelligence by 20! -Increases the user''s Wisdom by 20! Restrictions: -Can be used only by [Adrian John Rodriguez!] -The effect takes over 4 hours! -Can be only used at the first hour of midnight! -Can be only used in the Tutorial Level 3! -Can be only used if the user does not have any [Gift!] Would you like to make changes for 874 GM Points?] The changes of [Only [Adrian] can use it] and [Only in tutorial] helped bring the cost down by at least 60%. And [User with no Gift!] hit the nail bringing it below a thousand points. The other conditions weren''t exactly useful but they helped me save a few GM points so they were worth it. And smiling, I then clicked [Yes!] before I gulped the entire serum at once. IT WAS BITTER!!! I felt like my tongue would fall out, so I kept my mouth shut, before I slowly lost consciousness and fell on the ground. Chapter 15: [Blood Gaze!] "Shit!" I woke up with a sudden jerk as I looked at the outer field in front of me. Gazing at the sleeping yers, I observed Mark, Alice and everyone else who was in deep sleep. And looking at the dark sky, I sighed in relief as not much time had passed. Looking at the tutorial time, exactly 4 hours have passed since I cked out. Best guess was the effect of that potion. On that note [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Gift: [0] Body-Talent: [Mortal!] Health: 50/50 Mana: 250/250 Attributes: Strength: 7.7 Agility: 7.2 Constitution: 5.0 Stamina: 8.0 Intelligence: 25.0 Wisdom: 26.0 Charm: 3.4 Free Attribute Points: 2 Skills: Active: [Hunt!] Passive: [Perception!] [Mana Regeneration!] ¡­ [Perception(Passive) Rank: C EffectS: -Increases the user''s ability to discern through objects, monsters, items, etc.(Range 100 meters) -Can see through the illusion/disguise of equal or lower level. -Allows you to see beyond the normal eye level.(Range: 2 Miles)] [Mana Regeneration(Passive) Rank: C Effects: Regenerates 200 MP per minute!] [Hunt(Active) Grade: C Effect: Mark a target of your choice! When fighting against that target, All physical stats increase by 30! Cooldown: 3 Days!] ¡­ ''Better,'' I thought before looking at the increased stats. With this, I should be able to build a proper foundation of my mana based skills. Maybe I can ustom my [Gift] along with Mana? "Now where could he be?" I looked around for the white goblin, wondering where he was. "What are you?" "?!!" rming, I hurriedly moved a few steps forward. And turning around, I almost took my weapon out before I saw that white goblin looking at me with his eyes narrowed. "That scared me," I breathed in relief as I looked at him. He was still staring at me with that narrowed gaze, his eyes didn''t look pleased at all. "Can you let me use the [Shop!] now?" I asked, trying to ignore that stare of his, while he just mumbled,'' monster'' under his breath before opening the [Shop] for me. It was ironic hearing that from him, so I just shrugged my shoulders before looking through the skill present there. I needed a skill that could help me kill a lot of mobs at once. Something that would increase the hunting efficiency. ''Hmmm¡­ will this work?'' I thought as I looked at a particr skill. [Blood Gaze! Grade: E-Rank! Effect: Weakens the opponent''s Stat around the user''s field of vision! The opponent will be weakened ording to the difference between user''s and opponents Wisdom Stat. 1 Stat will decrease for each 20 Points difference in Wisdom Stats. Limitation: 10 Opponents! Skill Activation Cost: 10MP per second! Cost: 18,000 Points!] It was a utility debuff skill that went well with my [Perception!]. If I take my future [Gift!] into ount¡­ The synergy was good. Infact, given the right situation, it was kind of broken. "All right, let''s go with it," I thought as I bought the skill, before wondering if I should buy something else as well? Though everything else that I wanted was costly, so I left it for until tomorrow when I will have enough points. Standing up, I then stretched a little and began walking outside the area. It was still an hour till dawn, so the darkness still remained. Even the moon was gone, making it pitch ck dark. If not for the [Perception!], I would have been pretty much blinded. "Hmmm?" At a distance, I saw someone walking towards me, or to be precise, the safe zone. He was the same guy that had scored the most points in the second tutorial. If I remember correctly, his name was Alex, wasn''t it? Though why was he alone? ''Didn''t he go with an entire group with him?'' I thought as I observed Alex, covered in blood. As he walked closer, he paused to look at me. His eyes glowed a little red, while he looked at me. But after a few seconds he walked past me without saying anything. ''Hmmm? Strange,'' I thought as I turned back, and saw him walking until he reached the gate, paused and then spoke, "Don''t underestimate the monsters here." "Sure," I answered as I knew it the first time when I battled with that goblin warrior. Alex then continued walking, while I also began moving towards the direction where he hade from. My eyes observed the few goblins that were walking around at a distance of about 500 meters, and I sighed before moving faster. [Agility: 7.2 -> 9.2!] Given the situation, I decided that if I wanted to hunt faster, I needed my agility stat up more than anything. -Whoosh! My speed increased, as I kept running towards those monsters. And at my fastest speed, I covered the 500 meter distance in less than a minute. And as I reached them¡­ [Blood Gaze!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] The hunt began as I killed the first 4 goblins and moved towards the next. [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] [You have killed an¡­!] [You have¡­] The notification rang as I kept killing them, and within a minute, I killed 8 Goblins. I paused, took a deep breath, before I searched around. Found another Goblin group 200 meters to the east, and began running in that direction. Time passed as I kept killing one goblin group after another. Minute after minute, my hunt started getting faster as I killed more and more. Some of them had Goblin Warrior, and another type of Goblin, Goblin Fighter, but it didn''t increase the difficulty at all. Unfortunately, I still did not find any monster stronger than an [E-Grade] one. By the end of my hunt, I looked at the time and sighed. It was a pity, but I had to stop since it was near dawn, now. In about 10 more minutes, the sun woulde up, so I gotta get back to the [Safe Zone!]. Took a minute break before I started running back as fast as I could. [Points: 23,200 Points!] [GM Points: 816!] 10 minutester, I was back at the [Safe Point!]. I saw the area was getting brighter as the dawn appeared. It wasn''t pitch ck as before. My eyes then observed everyone, including Alex who was dyed in blood, still sleeping soundly on the ground. Despite sleeping on the rough surface, they slept peacefully without any tension, making me sigh a little. ''The Apocalypse must have taken quite a toll on them,'' I could only pity them before observing moving towards Alice and Mark, before trying to wake them up. But perhaps they were so tired that they didn''t budge at all. "Now what should I do?" I mumbled before I looked around the safe zone. And then a certain idea popped in my mind¡­ "This should be interesting," I smiled as I called out that goblin again. It was a bit cruel given the situation but I guess it''s the best way to get a head start over everyone else present in this ce. And understanding what I was going to do, even the goblin widened his eyes, before a smile appeared on his face as spoke," that''s so evil. I like it!" ¡­ Author''s Note: Hey everyone. Just wanted to thank you all for reading this novel. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am enjoying it. Now, for those who want additional chapters, I am writing down some Power Stone Goals. If you want me to publish additional chapters, I will do it as long as the Goals are realised. Weekly Goal: 250 PS: +1 Chapter 500 PS: +2 Chapters 750 PS: +3 Chapters 1000 PS: +5 Chapters. Thanks once again, love you all! Chapter 16: [Gathering of Goblins!] [Skill: Sleep Rank: E Effect: Creates a smoke based on the user''s MP, that puts everyone around into a sleep state. For every 5 points of difference between the user and the opponent''s Wisdom stat, the effect is 60 minutes of sleep. Mana Cost: 6MP per 60 minutes of sleep paralysis the user wants to create (Max based on the wisdom stat difference). Restrictions: The skill does not work on opponents with [Resistance] based skills of [Grade-E] or above! Cost: 6000 Points!] The idea was simple. To put everyone into sleep for 3 more hours and kill all the monsters in the area as much as possible. It will take away a little bit of their chance to kill monsters in exchange for their increased chances of survival, so while it was evil it was also an act of kindness. Probably. In the rare case of events if someone had [Mana Resistance!] among the yers, the chances of them waking up early is low, especially because of the fatigue everyone built up yesterday. Plus if they find everyone else in a deep sleep, chances are they would either sit quietly for others to wake up or just go back to sleep themselves. Buying that skill, I had about 17000 Points left, of which I bought 5 mana potions for 2500 points, both for this ''event'' and for the future. A little bit of waste, but you can also call it an investment. "Let''s see. There are 53 students here, and 3 hours of sleep so that should be around¡­ 900 MP? A little bit more than that," I then stretched as I looked at the goblin and made sure of one thing, "Nobody will die in the safe zone, right? Even if a yer tries to kill them?" He looked at me with a mysterious smile and answered,"no. As long as they have ''hours'' left in the safe zone, nothing will harm them." I nodded as I moved closer to one of the people and used [Sleep] skill on them. At first I was a bit worried that I might need to move them outside the safe zone and then use the skill, but it seemed like non-lethal skills were allowed within the safe zone. "One sheep. Two sheep. One sheep. Two sheep," I kept singing as I put them all to sleep. Cost me one mana potion to finish the task and another to refill my own mana. And 10 minutester everyone was in deep sleep as I yawned and stretched before moving out of the safe zone. -Whoosh! I then vanished from there as I began running towards the North-East area where Luke''s party went yesterday. Given their previous hunting speed, I believe most monsters will be there. ''Found one,'' and pretty much as I expected, I found some goblins immediately. Though to my surprise, this time the goblins weren''t the only monsters there. A few wolf-like monsters were also among them, on which the goblins were riding. ''Interesting.'' I put on my cloak and took out the dagger. Just in case, I also bought a [Stealth] potion before I went into battle. ''This should be fine,'' I thought as I ran towards those monsters, while keeping an eyes on the wolves. -Whoosh! Dashing as soon as I reached 10 meters closer to them, I reached the first goblin in an instant. -sh! [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] And then one on the left most side. -Whoosh! -sh! [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin!] The monster on my instant right was the wolf on which another goblin was sitting. He looked in my direction with an rmed expression, almost ready to use his dagger on me. -sh! -sh! Taking out the other [Trusty Steel Dagger!], I killed the wolf and goblin in one go. [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin Rider!] [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Tamed Fanged Wolf!] Taking a brief look at the notification, I sighed as I then went to the next monsters and¡­ [You have killed¡­] [You have killed¡­] [You have killed¡­] [You have killed¡­] And within the next minute, I wiped the entire group before a crisp notification rang in front of me! [You have killed 250 Monsters! The previous Sub-Quest has been updated!] [Tutorial Sub-Quest 1: Kill Difficulty: Insane Objective: Kill 1000 Monsters Current Progress: 250/1000 Reward: Skill Upgrade [Hunt (Grade C -> Grade B)!] I was surprised that the [Quest] was updated as I already knew all the quests of this Tutorial. It seemes like some of the quests are [Chain-Quest!] type, which made me wonder what would happen if I save another batch of NPCs? "Hehe," Iughed sheepishly before shaking my head as I focused back on the main task. ''Let''s first hunt as many monsters as we can,'' I thought it would be better to clear the way before I look forward to saving more NPCs. And with that thought point, I began running even faster than before. Moving deeper into the North-West area, I found some strange differencespared to the other areas. The first was that the number of monsters were higher than usual. At least 2 times higher. Second, they were mostly in groups, with each group having 12-15 goblin monsters with 3-4 fanged wolves. It was helping meplete the quest faster so it was a wee change, but it also gave me rather uneasy vibes. I kept looking around, scared if any of the monsters were to jumpscare me. The chances were less given that I was having stealth, but it still didn''t lessen the creepy feeling that it was giving. The third thing was rted to the NPCs. There were none. Either they were hiding so well that I couldn''t find them, or something must have happened to them while they were hiding here. Bet it''s the second one. [Current Progress: 547/1000!] It''s not even 30 minutes, and here I was halfway done with the quest. That''s just the number of monsters that I found here. I should be happy about this development but I wasn''t¡­ Something felt wrong. ''There isn''t even a single Goblin Warrior, either,'' I thought as I was hoping to find him for additional points. The weirdness just kept growing on me. And the answer to that lies about 2 kilometers ahead of me. Because of my [Perception!], I was able to see a huge group of monsters collected there. If I were to make a rough guess then there should be more than 50 monsters there. But was even more surprising was¡­ ''All of them are Goblin Warriors or simr,'' I looked at them with a bit of fear, with a bit of excitement. I could see them all standing in a circle, guarding something. And a strange purplish light could be made out from behind the goblin hunters. Getting closer to them, I could make out another type of goblins behind them. Wearing dirty ragged robe, they were a lot more uglier than other monsters, and from their physical appearance, they were anything but fighter type monsters. ''Shamans?'' I gave my best guess here. They walked around carrying strange items in their hands, while one of them, at the center, was drawing a strange circle on the road. From the looks of it, they were trying to summon someone¡­ or something. I observed the goblins warriors, and calcted my chances of defeating them. While I could have let them summon the monster, which would give me more exp in return, but if the monster ends up being [C-Grade!] or higher, I would be royaly fucked. ''Can''t let that happen, can we?'' I wryly smiled as I called out that white goblin once again. Since we were dealing with so many monsters at once, it''s better to be as prepared as possible. [Armour: ck Leather Armor of Grace! Grade: D Durability: 5000/5000 Effects: +5 Constitution! Cost: 8000 Points!] [Boots: ck Leather Boots of Grace! Grade: D Durability: 2000/2000 Effects: +2 Agility! Cost: 7500 Points!] [Gloves: ck Leather Gloves of Grace Grade: E Durability: 500/500! Cost: 2500 Points!] [Item: Unloved Ring of Grace! Grade: D Effect: +5 Constitution! +Increases the Chance ofnding a critical hit on the monsters! Cost: 5000 Points] [Item: Unloved Ne of Grace! Grade: D Effect: +5 Stamina! +Increases the Chance of finding a monster core while killing a monster! Cost: 6000 Points!] A total of 29,000 Points. While I could have gone for better equipment than these, I wanted to try out something as well. Given how everything was a game, I was hoping I could get some [Set Bonus!] from these? If I can then their worth would increase tremendously. With that thought, I then bought everything and began equipping it. [You have equipped all the Non-Combat Equipment of the Set: Grace! Partial Set Effects will be unlocked!] [Set Effect 1: Blessing of Grace: +5 Constitution! Set Effect 2: Love of Grace: Your HP will regenerate at the rate of 10 HP per minute when in nonbat state! Set Effect 3: [Locked!] ] A smile formed on my face, as I then looked at the notifications before, finally looking at my [Status!] [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Gift: [0] Body-Talent: [Mortal!] Health: 200/200 Mana: 250/250 Attributes: Strength: 7.7 (+5.0) Agility: 9.2 (+2.0) Constitution: 5.0 (+15.0) Stamina: 8.0 (+5.0) Intelligence: 25.0 Wisdom: 26.0 Charm: 3.4 Free Attribute Points: 0 Skills: Active: [Hunt!] [Blood Gaze!] [Sleep!] Passive: [Perception!] [Mana Regeneration!] Chapter 17: [Boundary of the Tutorial!] With increased stats, I did not need to worry about the Goblin hunters. I could pretty much wipe them all smoothly if I just jump in, but I won''t. Last time I took it half-heartedly, I almost lost my life. No can do that again. 5 Health Potions 5 Mana potions 2 Agility enhancement potions 2 Strength Enhancement potions 1 Stealth Potion 2 Weapon Enhancement Potion! I first bought these for 17500 Points. Since points were more or less easier to get, I decided to not bet my life for saving a few thousand points. Precautions are better than cure after all. Once this was done, I added anotheryer of protection to this. [Title: Goblin Hunter! Grade: E Effects: -When fighting against Goblins, all physical stats are doubled! -For each E-Ranked Goblin killed, the user gets +1 Agility for 2 minutes!] [Would you like to create this title for 50,000 GM Points?] ''Costly,'' I sighed before making more changes to it. [Title: Goblin Hunter! Grade: F Effects: -For each E-Ranked Goblin killed, the user gets +1 Agility for 30 seconds!] [Would you like to create this title for 2000 GM Points?] ''Still too much,'' I narrowed at the cost before I changed the effects a few more times, finally reaching a point where the skill was cost-effective. [Title: Goblin Hunter! Grade: F Effects: -For each E-Ranked Goblin killed, the user gets +1 Agility for 20 seconds! -The user loses 10 MP for each increase in agility point!] [Would you like to create this title for 547 GM Points?] This still left me with more than 15,000 Points and about 2000 GM points in hand, which I decided to save. Not because I was feeling safe with this mission, but because there was nothing else that I could buy from the [Shop!] to help me with this situation. As for the GM points, I only used it because I thought it was necessary here. "All right. Let''s start by attracting some of them," I thought as I walked closer to them and removed my cloak first. As obvious, the goblins were rmed and began running towards my direction. Walking backwards, I kept maintaining a fixed distance. I was hoping to catch them in batches, but they paused after about 30 meters, and then just observed me without moving. I too stopped, as I observed them standing there, with the rest of the goblins behind them watching me, observing me carefully. ''Well, here goes nothing,'' I thought as I put on the cloak. Drinking the stat potions, I then activated one of my skills. [+5 Agility for 15 minutes!] [+5 Strength for 15 minutes!] [Blood Gaze!] -Whoosh! And before they could react, I reached closer to the most front one. My increased agility yed a major role in this sudden dash, surprising even me, as I observed the goblin with a smile creeping up on my face. -sh! [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Goblin Warrior!] -sh! x 4 [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Goblin Hunter!] [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Goblin Warrior!] [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Goblin Warrior!] [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Goblin Warrior!] ''A hunter, huh?'' I thought as I saw the other monster, physically weaker than the goblin warriors. Were they more skilled? Can''t find the difference. -sh x ?? The bodies dropped until I killed about 15 of them. And then moving forward, I killed 10 another. While it was a hindrance that they were in groups, it was also a blessing that they were extremely poor in coordination. I observed their movements, and saw that some of them even hurt the other goblins while trying to attack me. While the effect of [Blood Gaze!] were negligible in this fight, the effects of added agility were super good. In fact, at some point I stopped using [Blood Gaze!] at all since it became hinderence in acquiring more agility points. -sh x ?? 5 minutes passed since I was killing the goblins, but I wasn''t tired at all. If it were me before, I would have either created some distance to take a few seconds of breath, or taken an energy potion. But now¡­ -sh x 7 It wasn''t even a warm up. As I continued, the number of goblins decreased considerably. Those shamans were hurrying with their summoning, while the other goblins were now more frantic than before. Trying their best to stop me from reaching the center. -sh x 5 But their reduced number also gave me enough time to recollect my thoughts as I dodged and attacked them. Some could see me despite my stealth, those were the hunters. Others couldn''t unless they were hit first, they were the warriors. -sh x 6 In the end, they were all goblins. 10 minutes passed since the battle started. All the goblins except those shamans were dead. And I looked at them with a cautious look. Despite them showing signs of fear, I knew they were a type of mages. One step wrong, and I could simply die without even knowing how I died. A total of 5 Goblin Shamans, looking at me with fear as I observed them and then I sighed before picking up one of the spears from the pile of corpses. And then aiming at the goblin at the center¡­ -Swish! -BOOM! "Tsk," I thought as I missed the aim, while their eyes widened realizing what I was doing. Yet, they didn''t move out of that damned circle. Not caring much, I then picked up another spear and adjusted my aim again. -Swish! -BOOM!!! [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Goblin Summoner!] The one I hit was the guy at the center. The one who was drawing that circle before. While he looked simr to others, his red coloured fingers made me identify him better. "KREEE!!" "KREE!!" "LIII!!" "KIII!" The other goblins, realizing what happened shouted out loud before beginning to chant something. I saw a strange circle forming in the air in front of him. -Swish! -BOOM! [You have killed an E-Grade Goblin: Goblin Shaman!] And since it would be idiotic to let them continue, I killed them from a distance. I still did not dare to walk towards them given how they were still standing there despite being a live target. But still¡­ "Kray ona ao!" One of the goblins shouted, creating a fireball and then throwing it at me. "Whoa!" I jumped to the side, barely dodging that attack before I picked up another spear and threw with all my might. -Swish! -BOOM! ''Pretty good for first time,'' I thought as I hit the ground right below them, destroying the road and throwing the goblins away from the circle. And as soon as that happened, the shaman goblins were horrified. As if crying, they just stood there making random noises with apparent panic on their face. It made me wonder if they too were in this game just like us? Surviving to the best of their abilities. I wish I could know the answer to it, but right now, the more sympathy I will show, the higher the chances, I will die early. -BOOM! [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin Shaman!] -BOOM! [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin Shaman!] -BOOM! [You have killed an F-Grade Monster: Goblin Shaman!] ''It''s a bit regretful, but I guess this is how it is,'' I thought as I looked at the mess that this whole battlefield left behind. I sighed as I ran around the circle, still not daring to move inside it, and moved farther, deepere into the city, hoping to find more goblins. [Points: 162,310!] [GM Points: 5761!] The first thing I did was to remove the mana restriction of the [Title!]. It cost me 2000 GM points, but it was worth it. Especially since I was going to buy a new mana based skill from the shop. In Addition, I was hoping to find more E-Grade Monsters as well. [Skill: Aura! Grade: C Effect: -Allows the user to imbue Mana into their weapons! The attack power of the weapon increases based on the amount of mana the User applies into the weapon! Restrictions: -The user must have their mana unlocked! -Wisdom must be greater than 20! -Minimum Mana required to activate Aura: 100MP -Maximum Mana that can be applied: 2500MP Cost: 125,000 Points!] I did not know how powerful the [D-Grade!] the monster was going to be, hence I had to prepare as much as I could. And with that in mind, I continued running for another 20 minutes until I stopped¡­ no. More like, I can''t walk any further than I already was now. [You have reached the Boundary of Tutorial Level 3!] Chapter 18: [What’s so good about this morning?] [You have reached the Boundary of Tutorial Level 3!] I saw the notification as soon as I tried to walk even a step forward. An invisible force prevented me from moving forward, restricting my whole body as I tried more. ''An enclosed area?'' I thought as I looked at the whole city behind me. It was a beautiful morning view, and I was currently about 8 kilometers away from my high school. ''So is the radius, 8 kilometers?'' I wondered if our high school was the center of this entire level. It was possible given how we were the only ones in this tutorial. Watching the tutorial time, it''s only about an hour that has passed, so given I don''t waste much time, I should be able to continue my hunt for another 30 to 40 minutes before returning back to the high school? "All right. That should be fine for now," I decided since it was the best course of action. With that in mind, I continued hunting, this time running along the [Boundary] of this level. I kept moving, finding more goblins as I kept running. I don''t know if it was a good thing or not but the amount of [E-Grade] monsters increased a bit more as I was closer to the boundary. I think, of the 150 or so monsters I hunted in the next half an hour, about 30 were [E-Grade!]. It wasn''t as great as the previous batch of 50+ monsters, but they were still more than what I saw yesterday. Anyways, as soon as another 30 minutes passed, I changed my direction from running along the boundary, to back to where the high school was. I think 90 minutes should be enough for me to reach back without disturbing my hunt. Except for that group of [E-Grade!] monsters, everything else was the same. The number of [E-Grade!] monsters kept decreasing, the closer I reached to the high school, while the frequency and number of normal [F-Grade!] monsters increased. And within the next 60 minutes, I was already back at the High School where everybody was still sleeping soundly. Unlike how I expected there to be at least one person with [Mana Resistance!], there were none that were awake here. One more thing that I did was to collect all the food supplies that I can, along with the weapons of the monsters and bring them back with me. The reason was simple, to increase the [Safe Time!] I was in the safe zone. ''Can''t forget about the bet, can we?'' I thought as I increased my [Safe Time] from [22:12:43!] to [35: 12: 43!]. And then I moved closer to where Mark was sleeping, beforeying a few meters away from him. Taking onest nce at the upgraded skill and my points, I went to ''sleep'' as well. [Skill: Hunt Grade: B Effect: Mark 2 targets of your choice! When fighting against those targets, All physical stats increase by 50! Cooldown: 24 hours!] [Points: 285,600!] [GM Points: 10,431!] ¡­ 30 minster¡­ I pretended to be waking up, wondering if someone else was awake. And pretty sure, a few of the guys were also slowly getting up. With the sleep effect vanishing, and the morning sunlight hitting directly at their face it would be more odd if they did not wake up. Looking at the bright morning, they were rmed for a moment before observing the tutorial time and calming down. Since most have them have slept for about 8 hours or so, they should still have more than enough time to survive. "It''s not a dream?!" "Shit!" "Just what has this world turned into." "Mom¡­" Some people didn''t have a bright expression as they looked at their surroundings, before they epted reality and moved to wake their friends up. I looked at Mark, who stretched properly as he looked at me, "GooaadD-awaaaahHH-Morning, Adrian," he spoke as he yawned, stretched and looked at me before rubbing his eyes. "What''s so good about this morning?" Grumbling, Alice also woke up as she looked at Mark before turning to me with a sigh," so much for waking up early at dawn." "I guess we were all too tired," I lied as I made a small smile before observing the rest of the yers. In almost a few minutes, everyone was awake as they started talking with each other. I was scared there for a second if someone would notice the fact that they all woke up at the same moment, but luckily nobody seems to be suspecting anything. Good for me. "Alice. Are you sure you don''t want toe with us?" A voice, which once used to sound friendly, now pretty annoying, resounded in my ear as I turned to see it''s source. And my sour expression turned irritated as I looked at Luke, talking with Alice, trying to persuade her to join his group. I saw the Trio, talking among themselves at a distance, while Mr Harrison was with another group. I wondered for a moment whether Harrison left the group or was he persuading other groups to join them, but on second thought, it''s not something that I really cared about, so I stopped thinking about it. For me, there was someone more interesting than that. Alex. I focused on that guy, as he sat alone with the blood still present on his shirt and face. His eyes were rather hollow and dark as he stared at the empty ground in front of him. It made me wonder what happened to him to put him in such a great shock? "I have already made my decision, Luke. I don''t want to be a part of your group," Alice on the other hand rejected Luke without wasting a single second. One can even see some disgust in her eyes as she saw Luke and the trio. "But our synergy was so good! We even killed 9 goblins. Surely you will grow stronger with us than¡­" even though Luke did not continue his sentence, he turned to me slightly, before looking back at Alice. "Anyways. If you ever considering back to our group, you are always wee. You too, Mark," Luke spoke before walking away from here, back to the Trio. Mr Harrison also joined them with 6 more students behind them. Seems like their party just got bigger, huh? "What''s next?" Mark asked as he looked at me. He didn''t even bother toment about what Luke did. Alice also turned to me, while I sighed and spoke, "Since I can''t fight, I would like you two to be the front runner. Our goal isn''t to kill more goblins but to save more NPCs. The second task is to bring more supplies and weapons and give it to the [Safe Zone] to increase our time here. And finally once we have enough points, we would focus on getting stronger in our respective areas." They all nodded as they looked at me. It was a fine n and given our synergy, they should be able to kill more monsters as well. As for my personal goal, I wanted to get close to the NPCs, hoping to find more about the scenario, and getting closer toplete those [Hidden Quests!] present here. "Sir. When are we leaving?" As I was thinking about them, they appeared right in front of me. The three NPCs who were willing to go with us and collect more food for the rest of the people. "In a few minutes," I spoke as I looked at the yers. Unlike yesterday, they seemed to be more cautious than before as they discussed strategies of how they were going to hunt, or save more NPCs. Ignoring them, I then turned to Alice first. I raised my hands forward and so did she, before I passed 5000 points to her. Though a bit surprised, she understood my intentions and epted it right away. [Skill: Fire Ball Grade: F Effect: Creates a Fireball that does 20 Damage to the enemy! Mana Cost: 10MP Cooldown: 10 seconds! Cost: 5000 Points!] While I was going to give Mark a bow and a few arrows, I decided that it was better to go with Alice since she was mage. Mark didn''t seem to mind that either as he nodded with my decision. I did not know how much health a goblin has, but with my [Blood Gaze!]I think I can make the goblins weak enough to be taken out after 2 shots. This should serve as a good start for us. Is what I was thinking but Alice''s next words surprised me¡­ "Since you trust me this much. I think I can tell you about my [Gift] and a couple of [Skills] that I received from the [Contract]." Chapter 19: [The Extra’s Party!] [Gift: Mana Synchronization Grade: Heaven Grade-2 Description: Allows the user to familiarize more with mana, enhancing the effect of skills, items and weapons. It also increases the user''s ability to wield mana, enhancing proficiency and mana absorption! Effects: -All mana rted skills of the user will have a 80% increased effect and their cooldown will be decreased by 40% -The Mana cost of all skills will be reduced by 50%. -The Items/Weapons used by the user will have a 40% increased effect -The intelligence to MP ratio will be increased to 1:40 -Mana Regeneration increased by 400%] [Skill: Mana Regeneration (Passive)! Grade: B Effect: Regenerates 4% of the user''s MP per minute!] [Skill: Grade up! Grade: S Effect: The user can increase the Grade of any one of her skills by 1 Grade for 2 Hours Cooldown: 24 Hours!] "¡­" "¡­" I and Mark looked at her nkly. Broken. That was the only word I could say about her gift and skills. I was more or less fine given my own [Game Master System], but the same cannot be said for Mark, who was looking at her with a betrayed expression. The disparity was too much. "Why trust me?" I asked the first question that popped in my mind. With her abilities, as long as she gets even a small [Skill], she would be able to outrank everyone in this ce without even half the effort. Also¡­ Why did her contractor not give even a simple spell to her? Why leave her defenseless like this without any offensive skills? Surely she would shine the brightest among the yers even with the worst of the skills. ''Was her contractor unable to afford that kind of skill or did they just want to see her struggle before achieving this on her own? Or were there any form of restrictions?'' This confused me the most. "Well there are two reasons for that," Alice began speaking as he looked at me, "First was that you seemed much more dependable than everyone in this mess. Despite Luke trying to act calm and being a leader, I could see that he was getting overwhelmed a whole lot. It''s as if a child is pretending to be a hero." She looked in the direction of other yers before continuing," about the other yers. I would rather have someone who is weak but sharp enough to make the right decisions, than someone who is strong and gets drunk on their power." "As for the third category of yers who will only leech off others. Let''s just not talk about them." I looked at her as I spoke," is that so? Thanks for thinking so highly of me. I was just looking out for myself." She nodded before adding," it''s fine. The other reason was about your personality. You deal with everyone from a professional point of view. Your eyes seem to gauge the profit out of everyone, trying to make the best of the situation." "For me, it''s much better than a free good will that will make me question your intentions behind everything you do. As a professional person myself, I too believe in the give and take philosophy. So, I think it''s better to stick with you than with anyone else." ''Well, she got me there,'' I sighed on the inside as I kept looking at her, before I shook my head. With her [Gift] and [Skills], we would easily clear the entire scenario. But I need to recalcte my steps as well. "All right. Since you told your [Gift], I guess it won''t be fair if I keep mine hidden," I sighed as I continued, "I don''t have a [Gift]. Or to be precise it''s locked right now." A surprised expression appeared on her and Mark''s face as they both looked at me. Not minding, I continued, "The unlocking conditions stated that I need to explore the area around me. Since it didn''t say how much, or given any other exnations, the best thing I could do was to walk around, hoping to unlock it." With a surprised look on their faces, they both observed me with an expected gaze. I don''t know what was going on in their mind, but they both looked at me with a slight jealous look. Were they thinking that since it''s [Locked!], there is a high chance it''s an extraordinary Gift? It could be possible. "Then about the traps?" Mark asked a bit confused and I answered him without hiding anything," sorry that I hid it before, but I also have a B-Grade skill [Perception], that increases my sight and other visual prowess." Since Alice too had a skill, she didn''t find it odd that I also had a skill. And while Mark felt a bit betrayed that I hid my skill, recalling how Luke behaved with me before, he too thought that it was the right course of action for me. He was still a little bit grumpy nheless. "Anyways, we should go now," I said as I looked at the other who began leaving as well. The faster we start, the faster they can grow. With that said and done, the 6 of us, 3 yers and 3 NPCs, began walking towards the South-West direction, opposite to where I hunted before. Since Alice should be able to kill the goblins with ease now, I don''t think we will have much problems there. The number of goblins was more than yesterday, and that became apparent as we encountered a goblin about 50 meters away from school. It was only yesterday that the nearest goblin was at least 500 meters away from the school, which made me wonder how hectic things would be at the end of the tutorial. -BOOM! Not wasting time, Alice chanted her first spell with excitement. I could see stars in her eyes as she sted the head of the goblin, burning it to charcoal before its body fell on the ground. "¡­" "¡­" I and Mark just stared at her, smirking as she looked at us. While I just had a dry chuckle before asking, "200?" "200," She smiled as she answered. Since hunting would be easier for us now, I looked at the surroundings, trying to find any NPCs. I wondered if I should create a skill that would help me look for NPCs, but then I decided not to, since I can just do it manually. To be fair, I could have made changes to the [Perception!] skill, but I thought it would be a waste to do since my [Gift!] would give me the same benefitster on. While Alice hunted, I tried asking the NPCs about their lives and how they ended up in this situation. To which seemed pretty much oblivious. They looked at me in confusion, as if I were asking a stupid question. Odd as it may have been, I didn''t dwell on it and continued with my questions and answers. In the first hour, I and Mark visited multiple houses on the streets, calling out for people. Alice on the other hand passionately hunted all the goblins she could find on the way. Since the number of Goblins were increased, she scored about 5000 points easily. "How many did you find?" Mark asked as sighed, not finding any NPCs, while I shook my head dejectedly as well, "None." "It''s all right. Let''s keep going," Alice said enthusiastically, reminding me of my previous self. It''s fun as long as it''s easy, isn''t it? The progress with the NPCs was rather slow. Whether it was finding the other NPCs, or trying to get information out of those with us, we were still at zero. It was as if the NPCs had their memories wiped off on anything not rted to what I had already seen. Anyways, we continued this for about 4 hours until we reached about 2 kilometers away from school. Since the number of goblins had increased, even Alice was having a hard time keeping up with their numbers. Noticing that, I decided that we need to take a break, to which everyone agreed. Choosing a nearby house, we chose the rooftop, before making sure all the exits were sealed. "All right. Since we have our damage dealer. I can act as a scout with my [Perception!] skill, but we still need a few more roles to be filled. Let''s start with what a basic party constitution needs." I began speaking as I exined to them the gaming terms and rted that to our current situation. Warrior. Guardian. Mage. Ranged unit. Healer. These were the five that constituted the most basicposition of a stable party that could survive for a long period of time. We had a Mage, Alice, that could act as Warrior, Mage and a healer, given her skill set. Mark''s [Gift: Eagle''s Sight], allowed him to shoot arrows urately even as far as 2000 meters, making him a proper ranged unit. Though that still needs to be checked. Unlike my perception which allowed me to see at night or discern certain things, he could only see what a normal vision can offer. As for me, I was pretty much useless in this party for now. Though, for some reason, they still listened to my words without any hint of prejudice. Their trust made me feel happy on the inside while I kept a serious face at front. "So for now, we don''t have any protection from a sudden attack of any form. The best we can do is to keep some healing potions and protection skills that would help us survive a surprise attack," I looked at them nodding at me before I continued, "But since we have Alice here, it''s better for her to buy the healing skill along with a protection skill. I think we have enough points for both of them. Also, Alice, can youter buy a bow for Mark? I think it''s better if we start increasing our range of hunting as well." Alice didn''t mind my words as she bought a normal bow and a set of arrows for Mark. This way he can start hunting on his own without depending upon Alice. The idea was to provide a basic n where both Mark and Alice would grow on their own, without depending upon another one within the group. A basic push, that would elerate them in their journey. It does not mean that the party would break. But I would like to keep the co-dependence factor as minimal as possible here. While I do want to get stronger behind the scenes, I would pretend to be an extra piece in this game who only did whatever he could do to survive. Standing up, I then walked towards the edge of the roof, from where I looked at a distance where a dozen goblins were walking. Each of them was [F-Ranked!], so it shouldn''t be a problem for Mark to kill them from here, right? "Mark. Come here," I called him out, as he walked with his eyes observing me, before he looked in the direction where I pointed. "You see them?" I asked, and he nodded. "Shoot them all down," I gave mymand, making him look at me with a surprised expression. At first, he thought I was joking but observing that I wasn''t he was baffled even more. "Dude. That''s more than 500 meters!" He eximed but I spoke again, "I know." Alice and those NPCs walked closer to us with interest, as they observed what was going on. And then looking at them, before turning back to me, Mark sighed as he spoke, "Don''t me me if I miss." I nodded before observing those goblins as well. Mark, aimed towards the goblin with a fixed gaze, before he ced an arrow and stretched the bowstring. -Shing! The arrow left the bow, made an arc high up in the air, and then reaching the goblin, it hit¡­ about 100 meters away from it. "See. I told you, it won''t work," he sighed before I pondered before asking," how much is your strength stat and your free attributes?" He observed my face before looking at the system. And then answering,"5.4 Strength and 4 Free attributes. I used 3 for agility back when I was returning alone to the high school." I nodded before speaking," for now, use 3 for strength. And then try again." He wanted to retort, but watching that I was serious, he did as I said. He cursed me under his breath a little before trying again as he stretched the bowstring. -Shing! This time, the arrow flew higher than before, at a faster speed thanst time. And reaching near that goblin, itnded 2 meters away from. Looking at the rmed goblins, I sighed as they weren''t stationary anymore. Since Mark couldn''t hit them while they were moving, I doubted he could do it now. ''Was 500 meters plus too much?'' I wondered but then I saw Mark''s fixed gaze at those goblins. His eyes seemed pretty focused right now as he readied his bow again. Not disturbing him, I silently observed him. -Shing! The arrow flew this time again, at one of the goblins who was now standing cautiously, observing the surroundings. Making an arc, that arrow reached that goblin and like a knife at an apple, it stuck to its head. Before his body fell on the ground. Chapter 20: [Eagle’s Eyes!] "Did you see that?!!!" Mark shouted with excitement as he looked at me with a bright face. Unable to believe what he just did, he just stood there in ecstacy, smiling like an idiot. He then, moved towards me and hugged me tightly, before speaking, "Man! You are awesome!" "Aren''t you the one who shot the arrow? What''s your gift anyways? You never gave me the details," I asked as he then made an ''o'' expression before telling me about his gift. [Gift: Eagle''s Eyes Grade: Mortal Grade-4 Effect: Increases the viewpoint uracy of the Target based on the user''s Intelligence! -For every 1 point in intelligence, the user''s viewpoint increases by 1000 Meter! -For every 1% increase in the distance (Based on max distance the user can see) from the user, the uracy decreases by 1% (Max 100%) ] "¡­" "¡­" This time it was mine and Alice''s turn to be silent. We both looked at Mark with mixed gazes. I being calmer, asked him, "Brother." "Yes?" "What''s your intelligence stat, right now?" "It''s 2." "Thought so." In the end, I sighed. Well, Mark wasn''t the sharpest in the bunch, but I guess that''s good in its own way? I don''t know¡­ "Put thest point in intelligence first," I prompted him with a polite smile, and not understanding much, he did. Will increasing Intelligence will make him smarter? I did not know. But I guess we will have proper opportunities regarding that. "Now shoot again," I said, making him nod at me before beginning to aim again. -Shing! And another one died. It wasn''t that the arrows were strong or the monsters were weak, just that those arrows hit the monsters weak point, resulting in a critical hit and killing them in a single attack.. 82% uracy. That''s overwhelming for someone with a Mortal Grade¡­ Why was it even a mortal grade anyway? I felt like mymon sense will crumble if I try to find the meaning behind [Gifts] and how they are graded. Mark used the rest of the 7 arrows and killed 7 more monsters. Then he bought more arrows from the [Shop] and continued his hunt in a rather excited manner. Alice and I smiled looking at him, before we went back to rx for the time being. While Alice checked the [Shop] as well, I began pondering about something else. ''Is everyone else this powerful?'' This was the question I stumbled upon after looking at Alice and Mark''s hunt. Given the right tools, they could wipe the entire map themselves. The [Tutorial Shop] was enough to make people way stronger than others. But the fact that less than 20% of the people were alive made me shake off those thoughts. Whether they were strong or weak, it does not matter to me. I have my own goals and ways, and I don''t need to worry what others will do with their life. "Hey Mark, I think that goblin is a bit different," and calling me out of my day dreaming, Mark shouted as he looked ahead with a tense expression. ''Or perhap the F-Grade goblins are just that weak,'' I thought as I stood up and walked beside Mark. Alice too joined us, while I observed the goblin and sighed. ''The Goblin Hunter is finally here, huh?'' I thought as I looked at Mark and spoke,"shoot another one." Following mymand, Mark shot another arrow that flew up in the sky before moving towards the Goblin. But right before the arrow could reach that goblin, he took a side step, cleanly dodging it, before looking at the direction where the arrow came from. "H-He is looking at us¡­ now he is running¡­ Adrian! Adrian! He is running towards us!" Mark spoke, panicking as he pulled another arrow, almost ready to shoot at him. Alice also prepared to attack but I raised my hand stopping their movements. "Wait until he gets closer. Make sure to put extra effort into shooting this one," I spoke as I waited for him to get closer. 300 metres¡­ 200 metres¡­ 100 metres¡­ 50 metres¡­ 20 metres¡­ [Blood Gaze!] "Adrian?!" "Now!" I spoke out loud as Mark shooted at that goblin with maximum effort. -SHING!!! -Snap!! -Thud!!!! The arrow flew at an insane speed, creating a hole in that goblin''s head, as it fell down on the ground lifeless. Though the bow which Mark was using also broke down into two pieces, hurting even Mark a little bit. "Ow! Son of a- Huh? Goblin Hunter? E-Grade? 2000 POINTS!!!" Mark was about to curse before he noticed the notification and shouted in an excited manner. His eyes were glued to the notification while I and Alice looked at that goblin with a narrowed expression. "Get better spells. You too, Mark. Buy a stronger bow," I then turned around and continued walking towards the ce where our food was. Beginning to pack, I then spoke out loud, "Seems like we need to up our game. Both speed wise and strength wise." ''Did I act well? It looks like it,'' I thought as I finally rxed on the inside. Actually I saw that goblin about a kilometer away as he was walking towards us. It was a perfect opportunity for me to make Alice and Mark more cautious, or else they might have be morecent. Anyways, using the points that Mark earned, we bought a much stronger bow for 13,000 Points and another skill, [Electric Bolt!] for 22,000 Points, using everything we had for now. This should give us an advantage of speed before we can buy more equipment for ourselves. With their new skills and weapons, the hunt became slightly easier. While there were instances of a few more Goblin Hunters, and even a Goblin Warrior, with thebined effect of Alice and Mark, we were able to kill them all easily. As time passed, Alice got more skills and newer equipment from the [Shop], increasing her overall prowess to at least twice as when she started. On the other hand, I asked Mark to save points until he could get a 80000 Points worth of skill that would increase his hunt by a huge margin. [Skill: Mana Arrow! Grade: D Effect: Create an arrow for 10-1000MP. The more mana you put into it, the stronger the arrow. Restrictions: -The user''s Mana should be unlocked Cost: 80,000 Points!] 80,000 Points is about 4000 Arrows since each arrow costs 20 points, but since Mark''s gift revolves around intelligence, having this skill has more pros than cons. ''Mark still needs to have his mana unlocked though,'' I sighed as it was another heavy expense for Mark. I then looked forward with my eyes narrowed at a certain distance. Something was walking towards us¡­ but¡­ "NPCs?" I spoke out loud as I looked at a family of 4 running towards us in a hurried manner, probably chased by some monsters. The distance was still about 2 kilometers so we were still quite far away. But that also meant that we needed to hurry up. "Mark. Protect them. Alice, use your skill to upgrade [Poison Field!]," I spoke as we hurried towards those NPCs. Understanding my intentions, they nodded before we ran towards that area as hurriedly as possible Alice''s only AOE skill, she upgraded it before using it on the group of goblins in front. Mark on the other hand shot arrows one after another at the monsters behind the NPCs. Most of them missed early, but as we moved closer the target began hitting with more uracy. Half the way, I saw they were chased by goblin hunters on foot, and I sighed in relief. At least there weren''t any fanged wolves, or we would have been toote. With Mark''s uracy, he killed most of the approaching goblins, before finally reaching them. Though their expression still wasn''t relieved at all. Instead the man approached Alice hurriedly with a panicked expression. His eyes were swollen, as the tears kept flowing. He got on his knees and held her by the foot. She felt a bit awkward, looking at me for help. But for now, I just listened to this man''s plea as he spoke, "Heroes! Saintess! Please save my daughter from those goblins! They are going to sacrifice her! Please! I beg you! Please save my daughter!" Chapter 21: [Daughter of the Chief!] "Heroes! Saintess! Please save my daughter from those goblins! They are going to sacrifice her! Please! I beg you! Please save my daughter!" The cold wind rustled against the dirty brown hairs of that man. Though he looked fairly handsome, the dirt all over his face, and that pitiful expression makes one wonder how desperate a man can get for his daughter. Hearing that man''s words, I looked at the direction from where the family came, though other than a street filled with a dozen goblins, there was nothing else present there. "Calm down, sir! We will help you out but¡­ at least exin properly what happened," Mark reached out to the man, separating him from Alice. Though the man was still having a heavy heart, unable to listen to Mark, as he kept begging her. It troubled Mark greatly as he was unable toe up with the right words to calm the man. The sad atmosphere consumed most of us, as I saw even Alice feeling sorrowful for the man, while Mark already was on the verge of running towards the ce where they came from. I looked at the female NPC, who was doing better than the man and asked," where did they take your daughter?" Her sober eyes looked deeper into mine with slight hope, before answering," In that direction." Turning around, she pointed out where they came from and I nodded at her as I continued," will it be all right if you take us there?" Her eyes shone brighter as she nodded rapidly and said,"please follow me." Despite being calm, her steps were hurried. She didn''t even ask her husband or look at the two children as she rapidly started walking back towards the ce she was running away from. "Alice. Mark," I spoke out before following behind her as well. Mark helped the man stand up before moving behind me, while Alice was already beside me, observing that female NPC. While the children were scared, they didn''t speak anything and joined the three NPCs behind us. The situation was desperate for the NPC family, hence there were more actions than words spoken. On our way, Mark and Alice protected us from the Goblins, while I reached beside the female NPC and asked, "How did you end up in this situation?" She turned her head slightly before speaking, "We were escaping from the goblins that attacked our vige and after crossing the forest, we somehow ended up in this strange ce. My father, the chief of the vige, was captured while protecting us, but he said that there will be heroes in this ce who will protect us." "As we searched for those heroes, a group of goblins found us. Even though we were able to escape somehow, our daughter ended up being taken by those goblins." She briefed the situation to me, while my eyes widened as I heard her words. Wasn''t there a hidden quest regarding that chief? [Tutorial Level 3 Hidden Quest 2: Save the Chief! Difficulty: Insane! Objective: The chief of the lost tribe has been captured by the monsters. Find the den of the monsters and save the chief! Reward: 25,000 Points; +3 Attribute Points; [Random Earth Blessing!] "Do you remember where your chief was captured?" I asked curiously, barely able to contain the smile I was hiding within. "Back when we were escaping the forest, I think he was captured there," her eyes turned solemn as she repeated the same words and I nodded before saying," sorry you had to face that." While I do want to save the chief andplete the quest, it would look extremely odd if I focused more on the chief than the child that we need to save immediately. So for now, let''s focus on that child. 10 minutes of running, and we reached the ce where the goblins took the girl. [You have discovered an F-Grade Dungeon dungeon!] [Dungeon: Subway Underground Dungeon!] Difficulty: Easy Grade: F Dungeon Clear Conditions: Protect the target from the monsters and reach the exit before they kill the target! Monsters Expected: [Goblins - F-Grade] [Boss Monster - E!] Number of people that can enter the dungeon: 1 Rewards: Based on selected difficulty and clear rate!] All three of us looked at the dungeon with a fixed gaze before Mark and Alice looked at me. Alice was the first one to speak, "I should go. I have the maximum chance of survival inside there." Though I shook my head as I spoke," you can''t see in the dark and with your spells, you will be a shining target in the dark. If you had any spells that allow you to see through the dark then you would have been perfect but you don''t." She simply looked at me for a moment before she sighed as she agreed. The dungeon was located underground and with theck of any proper light source, the chances of her dying are pretty much 100%. "Then, should I go-" Mark wanted to speak but I just gave him a deep smile making him pause. A ranged unit in a closed space is asking to be killed. "Give me 15,000 Points. Since the main goal is to survive and not kill, it shouldn''t be too hard," I said, making both of them look at me with their eyes widened. "You aren''t joking?" Alice spoke with her face still in doubt but I exined, "You remember the first quest where I undid most of the traps?" She nodded recalling that before I continued," I cleared a [Hidden Quest!]" Her eyes widened while Mark was a bit confused about what I was talking about. I knew what she was thinking about so I added, "The reward was 10 attribute points." Her eyes shook a little, as she was baffled. I smiled putting a finger on my lips making a hush smile before saying, "My agility is 10 right now. If I add 2 more points in it, I can outrun all the goblins in there without breaking a sweat. So don''t worry. I will also take a dagger along just in case of an emergency." She looked at me with a deep look. She had seen me killing a bunch of goblins as we hunted so she knew that I was capable of protecting myself. I wasn''t as great as both of them, but I wasn''t defenseless by any means. And thus after thinking things through, she nodded and spoke," all right. But run away if things get out of hand." Looking at the concern in her eyes, I felt happy as I spoke out," yes, mam!" She chuckled at my response before I turned to Mark who more or less understood what I was going to do. He wanted to stop me, but looking at my determined expression, he held back and spoke, "I will kill you if you die." Iughed as I shook his hand and took 15,000 Points from him before nodding," Sure, buddy." And then looking at the dungeon, I then walked closer to it and began selecting the difficulty and the settings around it. [You have selected the Nightmare Difficulty! -All Goblins will have one grade up! -The Boss Monster will have one grade up! -Time limit of 60 minutes has been added! Rewards will be based on: -Time left after you finished the dungeon! -The number of monsters you killed! -Whether you killed the Boss Monster or not! ] Since they couldn''t see what settings I was choosing, I could freely choose the highest difficulty. I smiled as I turned towards Mark and Alice before speaking,"will be back in an hour." And then I selected [Yes!], before the blue translucent gate opened up the path way down to the underground and walking down, one step at a time, until I reached the bottom of the stairs. I then stretched lightly before changing my equipment. Despite being pitch dark, I could see as clear as day, plus I don''t think [E-Grade!] would create any difficulty for me so I doubted I would have any real problems until I reached the [Boss]. And with that in mind, I took the first step of my first ever dungeon hunt. Chapter 22: [F-Grade Dungeon: Nightmare Difficulty!] There were two levels of the underground subway. One was for ticketing, resting and waiting rooms, including restrooms and washrooms. It was the general area of the subway. The lower level was the main subway where the tforms were present. ''Creepy.'' I walked into the general area, where the empty ticket counters and broken steel chairs weed me. The blood sttered on the wall, and those broken sses of the ticket counter created an eerie atmosphere, making me feel as if I were in a horror movie. Adding to that eerie atmosphere was the dull flickering tubelight that made me wonder if a ghost would spook out of there any moment now. Not really afraid of ghosts, but I am not the bravest one either. Nobody likes jumpscares. Steeling my mind, I then walked towards the flickering light, one step at a time. And as I walked closer, I finally saw two goblins walking towards me, as they scouted the area. Though something was different about them¡­ ''There skin is way darker than normal goblins.'' It was barely visible, almost ck but on careful observation it was a darker shade of green, much different from the leaf coloured green goblins. [58 minutes: 22 Seconds] Not wasting my time, I took out my dagger and ran towards them. With my stealth activated, they shouldn''t have been able to see my approach, but perhaps because they were one grade higher than normal goblins, they became cautious and readied their weapons. Rather than being able to see, it was appropriate to say that they instinctively sensed me. Still¡­ -sh! -sh! [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Elite Goblin!] [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Elite Goblin!] [The Points will be calcted at the end of the dungeon!] [+50 GM Points!] [+50 GM points!] Seems like the points were going to be ounted for at the end of the dungeon but GM points were stilling in. Well, it''s not like I can use the [Shop] in the dungeon, anyway. The white flying goblin won''te no matter how much I call him. With that being said and done, I moved deeper into the first level, towards the stairs that reached the lower levels. There were a dozen more of those goblins on the way but it was fairly easy to kill them given my stats and skills. "All right. Let''s prepare before moving forward." Standing in front of the stopped elevator that took me to the lower level, I first looked at my weapon that was on the verge of breaking. [Sharp Ivory Dagger Grade: C Attack: 400 Durability: 23/1000 Effects: -Increases Strength by 5 -Piercing effect increased by 5%] [Would you like to restore the durability of the dagger for 500 GM points?] Since this dagger has helped me for the most time, I decided to invest in it for now. Given how all the monsters down there are going to be E-Grade, and the boss monster would be D-Grade, I believed that reiming these points wouldn''t be that hard. And with that in mind, I decided to check something¡­ [Sharp Ivory Dagger Grade: C Attack: 400 Durability: 1000/1000 Effects: -Increases Strength by 5 -For every monster killed, the piercing effect increases by 1% (Max 50%)] [Would you like to make the following changes for 900 GM points?] Clicking yes, I then pondered over something before moving to the title section of my system. It was a good title that gave me Agility with each goblin killed, but now I needed it to be even better since I was going to face a D-Ranked Goblin. [Title: Goblin Hunter! Grade: F Effects: -For each E-Ranked Goblin killed, the user gets +1 Agility for 20 seconds!] And making the necessary changes, [Title: Goblin Hunter! Grade: E Effects: -Increase the user''s Agility and strength by 5 when fighting against a D-Grade goblin or higher! -Increase the user''s base stats by 50% when fighting against a group of goblins (More than 5)! ] [Would you like to make the changes for 3,500GM points?] I looked at the remaining GM points, and saw that I still have over 10,000 GM points. I still wanted to save the GM points for the [Gift] but given the situation, I decided to give the current situation a priority. ''If need be, I can just sell this titleter on to get half the GM points,'' I decided, somewhat hoping to find more goblins down there just so that I can refill all the GM points I used. [GM Points: 6851] I sighed before stepping down the stairs, as the view of about a dozen goblins came in front of me. They seemed to be partying as they danced weirdly and were running in circles around. Though the sick stench of blood and alcohol made me feel like vomiting. As I reached further down, I saw some of the goblins looking towards my direction with vignce, while others were still unaware of my existence. Though the two targets that I was looking forward to seeing, still weren''t present there. 20¡­ 30? I smiled looking at the number of goblins and smiled. ''It should cover half the cost of GM points, and added with the boss monster, I suppose I should be able to get back into the five digits,'' the smile widened as I prepared to dash towards them and¡­ -Whoosh! -sh! [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Elite Goblin!] [Points will be calcted at the end of the dungeon run!] [+50 GM Points!] I reached the first, and then the second¡­ and before they could even realise what happened. All the goblins fell on the floor, leaving an eerie silence behind. As I killed all of them, I wondered what should I do next. But the voice of more goblins appearing from the subway, made me turn towards the tform tunnel. A smile form on my face as I walked towards them, killing them one by one. 5 minutester, I was still walking inside the tunnel, killing the goblins as I felt exhaustion taking over my body. The goblins were still pouring out of the tunnel, neither too few for me to catch a break, nor too many for me to be overwhelmed. 10 minutes passed, and a tense expression formed on my face. The number of Goblins weren''t decreasing at all. I could see that about 30 minutes were left before the dungeon ended, and I needed to find the girl and take her out of here. Though the problem was that the tunnel seemed to be never ending. ''This is getting exhausting,'' I thought as I started increasing my steps, ignoring a few goblins while paving my way deeper into the tunnel. Though as time passed, I reduced the number of goblins that I was killing on my way here. Pressed on time, I now focused on running inside faster than before. I even ignored all the goblins on the way, hoping I could find that girl before the time ended. And finally¡­ [You have entered the boss room!] A message appeared on the screen as I entered a huge cavern, with hundreds of goblins walking around. Though what caught my attention more than the goblins was something that I had been searching for. The Boss Monster, a muscr goblin, twice the size of an average one, was sitting on a throne on the other edge of the room. He looked down at me menacingly as hemanded the other goblins to attack me. The other thing was the girl that I was searching for. Sleeping in a cage that was hanging like a chandelier, at the center of the cavern, I saw her petite figure full of burns and injuries. Looking at the big lock, I wondered if I needed to find the key to that cage first. ''But at least I found my target,'' I rxed my shoulder before looking at the group of goblins on the right side of the throne. 12 goblins who were chanting strange magic, and an opened up red coloured portal, from which more and more goblins were continuously pouring. ''No wonder the goblins wereing endlessly,'' I stretched as I then began walking towards the iing goblin. About 20 minutes were left for the dungeon run to end¡­ It should be doable. ¡­ [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! Title: [Goblin Hunter] ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Gift: [0] Body-Talent: [Mortal!] Health: 225/225 Mana: 320/377 Attributes: Strength: 7.7 (+8.85) Agility: 9.2 (+9.6) Constitution: 5.0 (+17.5) Stamina: 8.0 (+9.0) Intelligence: 25.0 (+12.5) Wisdom: 26.0 (+13.0) Charm: 3.4 (+1.7) Free Attribute Points: 0 Points: 301,200! Skills: Active: [Hunt!] [Blood Gaze!] [Sleep!] [Aura!] Passive: [Perception!] [Mana Regeneration!] ¡­ [Skill: Hunt Grade: B Effect: Mark 2 targets of your choice! When fighting against those targets, All physical stats increase by 50! Cooldown: 24 hours!] [Blood Gaze! Grade: E-Rank! Effect: Weakens the opponent''s Stat around the user''s field of vision! The opponent will be weakened ording to the difference between user''s and opponents Wisdom Stat. 1 Stat will decrease for each 20 Points difference in Wisdom Stats. Limitation: 10 Opponents! Skill Activation Cost: 10MP per second!] [Skill: Sleep Rank: E Effect: Creates a smoke based on the user''s MP, that puts everyone around into a sleep state. For every 5 points of difference between the user and the opponent''s Wisdom stat, the effect is 60 minutes of sleep. Mana Cost: 6MP per 60 minutes of sleep paralysis the user wants to create (Max based on the wisdom stat difference). Restrictions: The skill does not work on opponents with [Resistance] based skills of [Grade-E] or above!] [Skill: Aura! Grade: C Effect: -Allows the user to imbue Mana into their weapons! The attack power of the weapon increases based on the amount of mana the User applies into the weapon! Restrictions: -The user must have their mana unlocked! -Wisdom must be greater than 20! -Minimum Mana required to activate Aura: 100MP -Maximum Mana that can be applied: 2500MP] [Perception(Passive) Rank: C EffectS: -Increases the user''s ability to discern through objects, monsters, items, etc.(Range 100 meters) -Can see through the illusion/disguise of equal or lower level. -Allows you to see beyond the normal eye level.(Range: 2 Miles)] [Mana Regeneration(Passive) Rank: C Effects: Regenerates 200 MP per minute!] Chapter 23: [F-Grade Dungeon: Quest Complete!] [Binding [D-Grade Monster: Elite Goblin Elder!] as a target of the skill [Hunt!]] -sh! X ?? -sh! X ?? -sh! X ?? As soon as I used the skill, [Hunt!], all my physical stats increased by 50. Like a drug, an euphoric feeling covered my entire body as I took my first step towards those goblins before killing everything in sight with the first attack. It felt easy. As if I was dealing with dummies or something. My eyes widened as I wondered if I should use this to kill all the goblins present here before killing the boss. But perhaps because the skill could read my thoughts, my stats began decreasing as soon as I tried killing any other goblins. Though¡­ The brief interval between that divided focus was enough for me to kill more than a dozen goblins at once. And while not as perfect as I nned, I was still able to sweep the goblins without much difficulty. -Whoosh! -sh! X ??? -sh! X ??? -sh! X ??? Every second at least half a dozen goblins were dying, and step by step, I was getting closer to that boss monster. I saw him still observing me, previously bored, now with an interested gaze. And when I reached the center of the cavern, half the way from that goblin boss, he startedughing maniacally as he stood up before suddenly ring at me with a maddening expression. His eyes turned bright red, with his skin glowing with a deeper hue of red. ''He is using a skill-'' as I was thinking¡­ -Whoosh! He appeared right in front of me, his dagger almost reaching my neck. -ng! [-10 HP!] Barely able to save myself, I parried his attack, before he moved in for another attack. This time faster than thest one. -ng! Taking out the second dagger from my inventory, I parried that as well, before moving for an attack. He was fast but with the increased stat and [Blood Gaze!], I was able to keep up with that ridiculous speed of his. [-2 HP] Jumping, dodging, I parried him. Looking at his attack pattern, I tried finding the gaps in between. [-3 HP] He was skilled. Unlike the other goblins, this one wasn''t attacking just at random. [-2 HP] Enjoying the fight, he started attacking with a frantic gaze. There were more goblinsing at me, so I had to be extra careful. But I still couldn''t afford to spare a nce away from the boss. [-1 HP] ''I should end this fast. But¡­ I need to find a gap,'' I thought as I began wondering if I should let go of my defense and focus more on attack? [-2 HP] His attacks were getting through my poor defense, while mine barely touched him. He was fast, skilled, and pretty much brutal. Despite being in a frantic state, somehow his attacks were connecting more and more. ''Is he¡­ ying with me?'' I couldn''t shake that thought as I tried attacking faster than before. I even let go of my defensive stance and gave it my all. -ng! X ??? -ng! X ??? And he parried at least 70% of them, with the 30% of the attacks barely reaching his non-vital points. ''I have to be faster.'' [-8 HP!] -ng! X ??? [-5 HP] If I don''t end this here, the other goblins will get to me. And I will lose the few chances I have. [-8 HP] ''Faster.'' [-4 HP] My attacks were getting through but not enough to kill him. [-12 HP] "FASTER!!" -ng x ??? [-12 HP!] [-15 HP!] [-20 HP!] And at the cost of my defense and health, I was able to connect my attacks more appropriately to his body. Even though he was still able to counter half of the attacks, I was able to attack some of his vital points. The fact that he was underestimating me remained. And I need to exploit that before he gets cautious. ''Please connect,'' my eyes concentrated, hoping to pour all in one attack. It was the best chance for me to defeat him¡­ [AURA!] [157 MP has been consumed!] [+628 Attack!] Covering my dagger with mana, I then attacked finding my chance. A glint of a smile appeared on my lips, as I looked at that goblin. And realizing what I just about to do, his eyes changed from frantic to panic. That dagger, which was barely able to cut his skin before, cut his stomach like butter, creating a green gush of blood that spread all around the area. With his cut out stomach, he jumped back, bleeding profusely. His eyes looked at me with fear, as he shouted in a weirdnguage before the rest of the goblins then began running towards me. ''Can you give me a break already,'' I sighed before running towards that goblin. I was still tired from the previous exchange but¡­ -sh! X ?? -sh! X ?? Killing everyone in the way, I saw that goblin weakly walking away from me, his eyes shaking in fear as he kept looking back. But I cannot let him go¡­ not even for a second¡­ I reached in front of him, all the other goblins dead, my eyes looking down at his weak state. And as he looked up to me, with his eyes now covered with fear and slight fury. "KRIII!!" A surprise attack. He tried his best, aiming at my neck with all his might. -sh! It wasn''t enough. [You have killed the boss monster of the dungeon!] [Points will be calcted at the end of the dungeon!] [You have found a [Key to the Metal Cage!] ] [Your Contractee(Adrian John Rodriguez) has killed a D-Grade Boss Monster!] [You have received 10,000 GM Points!] [HP: 123/330!] [Time Remaining: 15 Minutes: 26 seconds!] With half of my health down, I looked at the remaining time with a bit of an exhausted look. Even though I wanted to kill more Goblins, I decided to take a breather and end this quest. I was too exhausted, plus I did need about 10 minutes to run back through the tunnel. I don''t know how much time carrying an extra person with me would consume, but it sure is going to be more than the time it took to reach here. [+30 HP!] [+30 HP!] Drinking two [HP Potions] that I saved from before, I then killed the iing goblins and reached the lever of chains the cage was held by. Bringing the cage down, I moved near it. [Would you like to unlock the cage? Notice: The Monsters will switch the primary target from the [yer (Adrian John Rodriguez)] to [Survivor (Lily)] ] "Expected as much," I sighed. If I had unlocked the cage before, the boss would have surely targeted her. Not sure if I would have been able to protect her at my current state. "Well. That''s a problem that I would never face," I mumbled before picking the girl up and looking at the horde of never ending goblins. ''Pity,'' I sighed again. They were quite a good source of GM points. [Time remaining: 13 minutes: 15 seconds!] Holding the girl properly, I then looked on the path outside from here. "All right. Let''s get over this." -Whoosh! And then avoiding those goblins, I ran as fast as I could. Since I wasn''t fighting, my stats were a bit reduced than before. Hence, I had to force myself to run even faster. Though because the number of goblins was non-existent on my way out, I could elerate without any disturbance. Hence, I ran through the tunnel pretty fast, before jumping up to the tform and then towards the first level. [Time remaining: 4 minutes: 21 seconds!] Reaching the first level, I soon reached the stairs up to the surface, before moving out of the dungeon. It was finally over. [Congrattions! You havepleted the F-Grade Dungeon Quest on Nightmare Difficulty!] [Calcting performance¡­!] [Difficulty: Nightmare (Grade - SS) Total Number of Monsters Killed: 379 (Grade- SS) Boss Monster killed (Grade - S) Condition of the Survivor: Healthy (Grade - A) Extra Time Remaining: 4 minutes: 4 seconds (Grade - C )!] [Final Performance Grade: S!] [The following rewards will be given to the user: You can choose any 3 of the 6!] [1. All Stats +20] [2. [Skill Upgrade Coupon] x 2] [3. [2,000,000 Points!] [4. [Blessing of Gaia (S)!] ] [5. [Skill: Absolute Nullification (A)!] [6. [Item: Ring of Resurrection (S)!] But before I could even read the description of the rewards, an irritating voice resounded in my ear as the view of Luke appeared in front of me. "Adrian? You survived?" Chapter 24: [Rewards!] "Adrian? You survived?" Luke asked as he observed me with a surprised expression. And soon that surprise was changed with doubt as he continued, "Is the dungeon not that hard?" "Told ya. He would have chosen the easiest difficulty and used some agility potions to hide and run. He is a coward Luke, stop having any expectations from him," Julia scoffed as she looked at me in disgust. Well, it''s what I told Mark and Alice, so I don''t really mind going on with that story, but what''s with that disgusted look? "Your friend is really the best Mark. To take points of your hard work and buy some agility potion for his own fulfillment," Tristan smirked as he looked at Mark as if he had been used by me. Were they trying to pick on me for no reason? I have heard the rumors of them being bullies, but didn''t know it was this bad. Anyways, I ignored them and carried the unconscious daughter towards the mother and father, who thanked me with all their heart. I could see the tears in their eyes, while I just smiled and told them it''s fine. ''I should let them calm down at the safe zone before asking more about the chief,'' I thought before Luke called me out again, "Hey! What rewards did you get?" ''???'' I turned to him before looking at the screen again. I still had to choose the rewards. [The following rewards will be given to the user: You can choose any 3 of the 6!] [1. All Stats +20] [2. [Skill Upgrade Coupon] x 2] [SkilL Upgrade Coupon (B-Grade): Can Upgrade any skill below B-Grade to one grade up(Max B-Grade)] [3. [2,000,000 Points!] [4. [Blessing of Gaia (S)!] ] [Blessing of Gaia (S): -All Elemental Affinity +10%! -Effect of all Elemental Skill +10%! -Cooldown of all Elemental Skills reduced by 10%! -Duration of All Elemental Skills +10%! ] [5. [Skill: Absolute Nullification (A)!] [Absolute Nullification: Grade: A Effect: Nullifies All First attacks at the target, irrespective of their nature or strength!] [6. [Item: Ring of Resurrection (S)!] [Ring of Resurrection Grade: S Status: Bound to the Owner! Effect: A One time Effect that would resurrect the User''s Body 10 minutes back in time! Activation Condition: Death!] The choice was obvious. [You have chosen [Blessing of Gaia(S)] [Absolute Nullification(A)] and [Ring of Resurrection(S)!] as the rewards!] "Hey! What are you looking at-" Looking at me observing the system messages, Luke tried asking again but the floor started shaking as that dungeon began copsing in front of us. It seemed like it was only a one time dungeon. Or perhaps all dungeons were like these? [Your Contractee(Adrian John Rodriguez) has cleared an F-Grade Dungeon with [S] rating!] [You have received 10,000 GM Points!] Before I could be surprised about the messages, another one appeared in front of us. This one was not only for me, but for all the yers in the town. [The 3rd Dungeon of Chaos has been Completed! Three of the 4 Dungeons are remaining!] [Error!] [Error!] [Error!] [One of the Dungeons was destroyed before it could be formed! Only Two Dungeons remain!] "¡­" ''It can''t be right? Haha,'' I gave out a dry chuckle as I instantly connected the dots. While others were confused, a certain shback appeared in my mind. Those summoner Goblins that I killed in the morning¡­ they weren''t trying to summon a dungeon, were they? A wry expression formed on my face as I face palmed. "What''s this?" "So I can''t clear the dungeon?!" "That''s not fair! Why does he get all the rewards?!!" "He is just a weakling! Man it''s making me furious!" The crowd behind Luke was agitated. They didn''t like the fact that someone like me got ahead of them and got all the rewards. Some of them were even moving forward as they pressed their fits against each other. -BOOM! But Alice made them shudder and step back. Even Luke, who was almost half way, jumped back into the crowd, before observing Alice with a shocked and betrayed expression. -Crackle! Crackle! Electricity ran through the fire, as Alice unleashed another spell. Making them all gasp before taking at least a dozen steps back. Even though they had enough points, and were fairly better than before, none of them dared to challenge Alice right now. The most they could do is curse me¡­ which they did anyway¡­ "Coward. Just how long do you think you can hide behind Alice? Do you think she is going to carry you all the way? It won''t be long before she too realizes how much of a burden you are! Count your days you thief!" The one spouting was Reyan, one of the people of the Trio who was with Julia and Tristan. His eyes were filled with jealousy and envy. Though his hate didn''t seem toe from the fact that I cleared the dungeon, but the fact that I was in the same group as Alice. The fact that Alice was going as far as to protect me from all the people here, sparked his emotions even more. "Exactly! You are just an Extra piece in this game! How long do you think you can survive?" Tristan spoke, partly mocking me and partly threatening. Before he looked at Luke and suggested, "Luke. Leave them for now. Since there are two more Dungeons we can clear, let''s focus on that." Hearing this, the entire party''s eyes lit up. Even I was tempted to go and just attempt all the dungeons. But right now my priority was finding the chief and clearing the Hidden Quests. My instinct told me that I could profit more from that rather than by trying to do the side quests. ''Others might have already found the dungeon too,'' I thought as it''s been quite a while since everyone was out to hunt. There was a high chance people would havepleted the dungeon by the time I reached there. I looked at the crowd going away from here, while Alice and Mark walked closer to me with the rest of the NPCs. "Don''t worry about that douchebag Adrian. We will never betray you," Mark gave a thumbs up with a bright smile while I nodded and looked at Alice, "I got 100,000 Points and +2 on all my stats." She nodded at me, not thinking much about it. It was as if she expected the dungeon to give at least this much. Though with my next words, "I also unlocked my [Gift!]." Her eyes opened up wide as she looked at me with a shocked expression. Chapter 25: [Carteography!] [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Lower Mortal Grade- 10 Experience till next Grade: 0.00% (0/1 Square Miles) Effect: -Allows the user to create mental maps based on what he has observed!] I bought the [Gift] for 25000 GM points, once again leaving me with 10,000. I guess, I got a little too much from a single dungeon run alone. "A gift that allows you to create a mental map based on what you have observed, huh?" Alice seemed a little disappointed with my [Gift], as she probably was expecting something extraordinary. "Mortal Grade 10, huh? It''s a bitckluster, I guess," I sighed as I continued speaking," I think I picked the bottom of the straw here." I pressed my lips and then gave a forced smile, at which Alice just shook her head before speaking," it''s bad. Especially given how others are specifically targeting you. Should we focus on helping you get strong? We can buy skills from the shop. That way you can at least stop worrying about Luke and the others." I wasn''t worrying really. But I was happy that Alice was showing concern for me rather than trying to cut me off. It wouldn''t be exactly surprising if she started having thoughts like that. "Maybe. But I was thinking of increasing the grade of my [Gift] first," I made a thoughtful expression but Alice narrowed her eyes at my words as she spoke,"what do you mean?" "I mean increasing the experience of my gift and then increasing its grade? That way maybe I can unlock some more features of my gift. Is anything wrong?" I acted confused. I already had a rough idea that most of the gifts were fixed from the start, but I had to act like I didn''t know that. It wasn''t a precaution against the yers around me but¡­ the Gods. The one who could possibly be watching me right now. "You mean, you can increase your gift''s grade?" Alice gulped as she looked at me, with her eyes widening a little. "Well¡­ yeah? There is a [Growth Type] written beside the name of the [Gift]. Don''t you have something like that as well?" I asked with my eyes slowly opening up wider. Alice shook her head, as she smiled a little," I don''t have anything like that. Mark?" She looked at Mark who also did the same. I made an ''Ah!'' Expression, before smiling a bit mischievously as I added, "Let''s keep this a secret for now." They both nodded before I added, "Let''s see. I think I need to observe everything around me, and it will register into my gift. So that means¡­" I looked at the empty road, and focused as far as I could. With my [Perception!] I could see as much as 2 miles. I wonder if it will add- [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Lower Mortal Grade- 10 Experience till next Grade: 13.21% (0.1321/1 Square Miles) Effect: -Allows the user to create mental maps based on what he has observed!] ''Oh!'' I smiled as I understood the method of increasing the [Gift!]. This should be easy. I then closed my eyes, and bingo! A gray coloured 2D map appeared in front of me, showing the street that I just viewed in front of me. "Did the grade increase?" Alice spoke with an interested gaze but I shook my head,"no, but the progress bar increased. Right now, I can only see a Gray coloured 2D map. It''s kinda nd with no information of any sorts." She nodded, not worrying too much about it. Though I was a little excited. I wanted to increase my grade as much and as fast as possible. "Let''s return back to the safe point, now. We will take an hour break before we continue in other directions as well," I spoke and they nodded. Since we had a group of NPCs as well, it was better to drop them back at the safe point and continue on our own. "How is she?" I then turned to the little sleeping girl that I saved. Her mother, the chief''s daughter, smiled and answered," she is fine. Just sleeping." Then she kissed the girl''s forehead before thanking me once again. "All right. Let''s leave now," Mark picked up the bow and arrows before the rest of us nodded and began walking towards the [Safe Point!], while I kept observing the area around, increasing the experience point as much as I could. 10 minutester¡­ [Your Gift [Cartography!] has increased by 1 Grade!] [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Lower Mortal Grade- 9 Experience till next Grade: 20.00% (1/2.5 Square Miles) Effect: -Allows the user to createyered mental maps based on what he has observed! The user can switch between differentyers at will!] The distance required to be mapped increased as a feature ofyering was added to the Map. I wanted to increase the Grade of [Perception!] or even its distance, but the cost of GM required was more than 100k, so I could just try my best with what I had right now. 30 minutester, we reached back to the safe point. I took half of the stuff we collected increasing my [Safe Time], while the rest half was divided between Mark and Alice. Since the NPCs were tired, they decided to rest, while Alice and Mark were looking through the [Shop]. I gave them 50,000 Points each, saying that they should gear up with necessary skills as we were going to explore tillte night from today. While it was dangerous, it was also necessary since we do not know when we would end up in a situation where fighting in the dark is our only choice. Though a bit reluctant, they agreed with me, while I decided to go on the roof of our school for now. I was wondering if I could get a proper view from there, increasing my [Gift]''s progress even more. Since the required area was 2.5 miles, and the radius of my skill is 2 miles, I think it should be feasible. [Your Gift [Cartography!] has increased by 1 Grade!] [Your Gift [Cartography!] has increased by 1 Grade!] [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Lower Mortal Grade- 7 Experience till next Grade: 67.41% (6.741/10 Square Miles) Effect: -Allows the user to createyered mental maps based on what he has observed! The user can switch between differentyers at will! -Marks all the yers on the Map with green color! -Allows the user to Mark 3 movable targets!] "¡­" Unlike before, now the map was filled with various green dots. About a dozen of them were within the safe zone, showing various yers present there. But disturbing me from my joy, came a mocking voice, calling me out from the gate of the roof,"Aren''t you enjoying yourself a little too much, buddy?" Turning around, I saw Tristan standing there with Julia. Both of them observed me with a smirk on their face. "What do you want?" I asked as I observed them, while something peculiar caught my attention. "Hehe. What do you think I want?" He observed me with a deep gaze before his eyes turned serious and spoke, "You dare not pretend not knowing anything, you fucker. You already knew Julia is mine, yet you fucking dared to force your way with her, you bastard. I would have ignored anything else. I am a man of principles¡­ But buddy¡­ There are limits that shouldn''t be crossed." I could see the fury and disgust in his eyes. From the way he was looking at me, it seemed like he was hell bent on killing me. The situation was absurd. It was too nonsensical. But then again¡­ it all made sense. After all¡­ My map was showing only one green dot on the roof right now. One of them was a doppelganger. Chapter 26: [Doppleganger!] Acting scared, I took a few steps back, my eyes half focused on the map, waiting for Tristan toe at me. And just like I wanted, he took a few steps ahead while Julia stood there, letting hime at me. "What are you talking about? When did I do that?" I asked with a serious voice carrying a bit of horror in it. For now let''s go with ''scared but putting a brave front'' kind of expression, hopefully that would put his guard down a little. As Tristan moved forward, my eyes widened a little. By the location of the green dot, I was able to predict who the doppleganger. But it wasn''t what I was expecting. Tristan was the one. ''I thought for sure it was Julia,'' I sighed in relief thinking it was the right choice to figure out who was the one before using the skill. [You have Marked [Tristan Brown(?)] as the target of your [Hunt!]. All stats will be increased by 50 when fighting against Tristan!] With that the Hunt skill was now on cooldown. My eyes scaled Tristan from top to bottom, before I looked at Julia who was observing me with the same smirk as before. It was irritating but¡­ I needed to see something first. Something that I was only 50% sure of. As I was collecting my thoughts, Tristan vanished from his original spot before appearing right in front of me. It wasn''t speed¡­ it was more akin to Teleportation. Which made me deeply focus on him¡­ ''I shouldn''t drag this,'' I thought as I used [Blood Gaze!] on him before taking out my dagger as well. As I attacked, I realized I was slower than him, even with using my two skills, I was a little slower than him. Just how high are his stats? He smirked at my attempt, while I attacked him with the dagger. I could see his dagger reaching my neck, while mine was still half a hand''s breadth away. "Too slow-," he spoke as his dagger touched my neck before mine could reach him. But then again. [You have been attacked!] [Absolute Nullification!] [The first attack has been nullified!] And the smile that I was hiding came out unintentionally while I activated another one of my skills. [Aura!] [200 MP has been consumed!] [+800 Attack!] -sh! [You have marked [Tristan(?)] as one of the Markers on your Map] My dagger cut his neck half of his neck, as he was barely able to step back. And then he vanished again from his spot, appearing a few meters ahead. -Thud! He fell on the ground as he looked at me with his eyes opened up wide. Unable to move his body, he was half shocked. I could see him trying his best to move his body as he wriggled but it was futile. ''It was a good idea to add the [Paralysis!] to the dagger,'' I gave myself a thumbs up. Good thinking on my part. "Im-poss-ibl-e¡­ It-can''t-be," shocked he observed me, while he tried his best to fight against the paralysis effect. His eyes turned purple before he looked at Julia and shouted," Kill-" -sh! But then I cut his tongue in a single sh before I looked at him like a scum. Observing the still smirking Julia who was simply observing us, I sighed. I should have realized something was wrong when they were trying to pick a fight with me for no reason before. I observed that doppleganger for a few moments before¡­ "I would have loved to ''converse'' with you about a couple of things but¡­ oh well¡­" I spoke with an uninterested gaze. He certainly possesses quite a bit of intelligence, so he should have some information that could be useful. Too bad, I couldn''t risk it either way. He seemed to be begging me as he looked at me with those horrified eyes. Though I simply walked closer to him and¡­ [You have killed a monster: Doppelganger (D-grade)!] [+2000 GM points!] [Hidden Quest Complete!] [+10,000 Points!] The shape of that monster changed back into a ugly ck goo, before slowly spreading on the floor. I walked a few steps back to avoid getting my shoes dirty, while I wondered what happened to the real Tristan? -Thud! And then I saw Julia falling to her knees, before her expression changed from previously smirking, to horrified and terrorized. In a frenzy, she slowly held her hair, as a maddening look appeared on her face. Like a waterfall tears began appearing in her eyes, she then covered her mouth by reflex. -Blergh! She vomited. -Blergh! Cough! Cough! She vomited more. Even traces of blood were appearing in her vomit. Tears dropped out of her eyes like waterfall, as then she began crying a bit louder. "Ah- Aah- AAAAAAA!! NO! Blergh!! Blergh!! Aaaa¡­ Aaaa¡­" Her breathing became irregr, as she tried to scream, but she couldn''t. The pain was messing with her senses. Her memories of what she might have seen, they were surfacing one by one, breaking her again. Churning her from the inside. -Drizzle! Drizzle! Drizzle! And drops of water fell from the sky, slowly as the rain came blessing this pitiful situation. At first it was light, before it began pouring more, enough to cover the muddled cry of Julia. "Aaa¡­ Tristan¡­ Reyan¡­ No¡­ Aaaaa¡­. Aaaa¡­ " She shouted with a weak voice, her body barely able to keep it together. She looked in the air in daze before vomiting again, this time with a lot of blood in it. The water washed that blood away, while her clothes were now soaked. Her tied up hair, was opened up when she held them before, now they were messy with the rain water pouring all over her. Heavier got the rain, covering the voice of the broken girl, who wanted to break into pieces but was struggling not to. I could see her cries, and the tears between the dozens of water drops. Turning slowly towards me, she observed my face with that broken cry of hers. She opened her mouth, as if trying to call my name. I could see that she was speaking to me but the rain was louder than her voice. Giving it a bit of thought, I decided to move towards her. But before I could do so her eyes slowly turned nk as she passed out of the pain. While I could only observe her with an expression filled with pity. ''I guess, Reyan might be dead too then,'' I sighed before moving towards her, reaching her, wiping a bit of the vomit on her lips and hand with a cloth before picking her up, and then slowly walking back down. Chapter 27: [Heavy Downpour!] cing her body on the infirmary bed, I observed her for a few moments before calling out that white goblin. It wasn''t much but I bought a couple of [Mental Resistance!], [Increased Will!], [Minor Health!] and [Fatigue Removal!] potions. These cost me a little over 10,000 Points, but since I had plenty and I was going to make even more, it wasn''t much for me. Though whether these potions will be helpful or not was something that I didn''t really know about. I just did the bare minimum I thought I should. Anyways, after using these potions on her, I moved outside the infirmary and closed the door, before making my way back to the outer hall. About 7 yers were sitting there, talking with each other about their hunt, while the NPCs, sat on the other corner having their own discussions. "Adrian!" I saw Mark calling me from the group. He looked rather happy right now, while Alice was seemingly talking with one of the girls in the group. Reaching them, I looked at the group of 5 girls, while they were using [me!] magic to heat themselves out of the cold. Four of them were from the cheerleaders group, while the 5th one was someone I hadn''t seen before. "Hello Adrian! I am Samantha!" "Hi." "Hello." "I am Rina." "¡­" The girls were¡­ mostly extroverts. Anyways, I waved at all of them before looking at Samantha. "Adrian. You are from the cheerleaders group, right?" I introduced myself before asking a normal question, to which all of them nodded except the shy timid girl. "We were discussing dungeons and monsters. I was telling them of what happened outside the school and the adventures we had," Mark seemed enthusiastic. Well, it''s not everyday he got to talk to girls¡­ especially to his crush, Samantha. "Adrian. Can you tell us about what happened in the dungeon? Please~" Samantha made a cute smile, as she looked at me hopefully, while Mark was signaling me ''tell her! Tell her!''. I could only smile before speaking," I can but it''s mostly Mark who has done the most work. In the dungeon, I avoided almost all the monsters and saved the kid, so that''s all that happened. Outside the dungeon, Alice was our closebat unit while Mark killed all the monsters before they could even reach us." "Honestly. I was just strategizing the best possible way to survive. While it may sound grand, most of it was pure luck on my part. And of course, Mark and Alice were the main reason we even made it that far." I just gave it out a small smile before a dry chuckle, while they paused and then nodded at me. "But you did get to talk to the NPCs the most right?" One of the girls asked, while I gave out a small smile again, "Just like I said. Pure Luck on my part." They made an ''oh'' expression before getting a little sad. Though they smiled and thanked me for telling them what I knew, before the topic drifted on something else entirely. Looking at the downpour, it seemed like it wasn''t going to stop anytime soon. I wondered if others were hiding as well. Hunting in this weather would be rather hard on the yers¡­ Perhaps this is also a form of a test in the tutorial? I then stood up and walked towards the NPCs, hoping to find the information regarding the chief and where I could find the artifact. As long as I can get even a single hint, I think it will be worth it. ¡­ [North-East: Near Luke''s Party!] "Just where the f*ck are Tristan and Reyan when you really need them?" Luke shouted as he killed another one of the goblins. Even though he was strong enough to kill an F-grade with a single hit, doesn''t mean he wasn''t getting tired with all this hunting. Ever since the heavy downpour started, the group of dozen ended up taking shelter in a nearby apartmentplex. More precisely in the hall area where the space was open and they could fight in case of a sudden attack. -Kreee! "Heal on 3 o''clock!" "What''s 3 O''Clock?!!" "Help me!!" The goblins kept attacking the group from the entrance as they kept entering the hall in the batch of 5 or 6 at a time. Good thing was that there was only one entrance and the number they had to face was minimized. Bad thing was that they wereing every 5-10 minutes, not giving any break to the group. -sh! sh! sh! Ever since, Luke got a weapon, he was able to slice through the goblins with ease. Even the stronger looking Goblins weren''t much of a problem as long as he was careful. [Gift: One with the Weapon! Grade: Upper Mortal Grade-2 Effects: -Increase the attack power of the weapon of the user by 800% of strength! -The user will be able to use the weapons with 40% increased proficiency! -Minor Chance to unlock a skill of the weapon when it is used over a period of time! -Easier to learn [Art!] of any weapons! All [Weapon Art!] will have a 400% increased effect!] -sh! sh! Slicing through the goblins, he saw his points increasing rapidly. Even though it made Luke happy, for now his mind was in a mess because he was the only one properly hunting the goblins. Everyone else was useless. They were barely struggling through the whole fight, while barely even able to kill a single goblin. There were healers who were casting heal on the goblins, and archers who missed 9 out of 10 shots. The closebat was more of a hindrance than a help. What''s even worse was that people were trying to steal the kill from Luke, whenever he failed to kill a goblin in one shot. As the goblins increased in number, Luke could see the impending dangers that were going toe. He had to make a decision right now. Either to continue fighting or escape from here into the downpour. "Tristan. Reyan¡­ just where the f*ck are you two?" Luke cursed under his breath as he looked at the next batch of goblins that were entering the hallway. It was probably going to be a rather long day today. Chapter 28: [Do what you can!] [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Lower Mortal Grade- 5 Experience till next Grade: 72.43% (36.219/50 Square Miles) Effect: -Allows the user to createyered mental maps based on what he has observed! The user can switch between differentyers at will! -Marks all the yers on the Map with green color! -Marks all the NPCs on the Map with a yellow color! -Marks all the known information on the map about inanimate immovable objects! -Allows the user to Mark 5 movable targets! -Shows partial information about the marked movable targets!] For the next few hours, I went on my own trying to increase the area of my gift. While it increased the experience, it also increased the area I can monitor in the tutorial. "This looks fine," I thought observing the [Gift]. If it was this good at this low level, I think I can expect more good things from this [Gift] as time passes. Though given the map was only 5 miles in radius, I doubt I can increase the grade in this level again. -Drizzle! Drizzle! Drizzle! The rain however didn''t stop at all. With my increased [Perception!] There was no problem in traveling through the rain, but still it was another thing to fight the monsters. While my efficiency was halved, theirs remained the same. The only good thing out of it was that the quality and the quantity of the monsters was the same as before. [GM Points: 23,430!] [Points: 664,871!] "It''s good and all but is this it?" Iined a little. Partially because I was getting bored with monster hunting, and partially because there was no lead to the [Chief of the Lost Tribe] and neither to that artifact that the hidden quest was talking about. I did talk with the NPC, and they did tell me a lot of things but it was mostly rted to the south forest which was restricted for the yers to move about. So I did what I thought was the next best thing I can do, that was to move to the nearest dungeon. But as luck would have it, the other two dungeons were cleared before I could reach them. Pity. Finally I went to do the most obvious thing I can right now, that is to increase the experience of my gift. Given the limited area the max I could have done was upto Grade-5, so I did that and a bit more. "What should I do now?" I thought as I looked at my status and the gift, then at the GM points I had. At first I thought of creating a skill but then I had another idea. "You there?" I called that white goblin out and the asked him to open the [Shop], before I selected [Mana Enhancement Serum! Grade: A Effects: -Increases Mana Proficiency of the user by 20%! -Increases Mana Regeneration by 100%! -Increases Mana by 1000 -Increases Intelligence by 100 Requirements: The user must have unlocked Mana! Cost: 500,000 Points!] I honestly don''t need mana, yet. But if I am taking the path to create maps out of thin air containing structures of all kinds, I am 100% going to need a heavy amount of mana in the future. ''There is nothing wrong with preparing for it in advance,'' with that line of thought I then bought it. And just like previously, I began making some changes to make use of the GM Points. Though unlikest time, I was going to use at least 10,000 GM points for it. Even 20,000 if I can find something that gives me an equal value or higher. Sitting down on the sofa of one of the shops on the second floor of a cafe, I then began finding the right proportion. The perfectbination. "This is bad." "Oh! Maybe¡­" "Hmmm. It can still be better¡­" "Something else¡­" "Nah! I can do better than this¡­ " Seconds turned into minutes, and then hours passed. And finally when I was done, the night came. Even though I wasted the entire afternoon and the evening, I wasn''t dejected even a single bit. [Mana Enhancement Serum! Grade: A Effects: -Increases Mana Proficiency of the user by 30%! -Increases Mana Regeneration by 350%! -Increases Mana by 2000 -Increases Intelligence by 300 Restrictions: -The user must have unlocked mana! -The user must have a Lower Mortal Grade Gift! -The user must have Wisdom as its highest Stat, followed by Intelligence! -The user must have Intelligence close to Wisdom! -The Serum can only be used in Tutorial Level 3! -The Serum takes effect over a period of 100 hours! -The Serum can only be used by Adrian John Rodriguez! -The Serum can only be¡­ -The Serum can¡­ -The Serum¡­ -¡­ . . .] [Would you like to create the following changes for 21,432 GM Points?] Took more than 50 restrictions but it worked out just fine. Though it was a little costly, the effects were increased quite a lot. I was about to drink but then I wondered what would happen if I were to pass out? Even though there was nothing mentioned like that, it was a dreadful thought given the ce I was. So before I drank the liquid, I began cing all the furniture near the gate. There was only one entrance so I ced everything I could, blocking the entrance of the door. I even used 500 GM points, enforcing the gate before I believed it was more or less safe now. And then¡­ "Here goes nothing," I took a deep breath and gulped that serum, before a dirty mud taste appeared in my mouth. I felt like I was drinking an expired chemical that had been thrown in the mud. Reflexively I was about to vomit, but then using all my will power, I covered my mouth and gulped the entire liquid back in. And a few secondster¡­ "FUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKK!!!!!" My insides were burning, while my body felt like it was on a frying pan. Tears ran out like water fall while I started screaming as loud as I could. The rain outside continued, so I wasn''t exactly worried about anyone hearing me. But even if I that wasn''t the case, I doubt I could have done anything about it. The only thing I was happy about was the fact that I had put effort in blocking the door. And that was thest thought I had before I lost the battle of will, and lost my consciousness. Chapter 29: [Bad to Worse!] "Argh!" With a loud headache, I groaned before my eyes opened in the darkness surrounding the area. A red hue, then slowly entered my vision as the area became much more clearer. Good thing was that I was still in the same ce as I was before I passed out. The strange thing was that the light from the window had a strange red shade that coloured the entire room with a crimson hue. Slowly pushing myself back up, I saw that furniture was still present where they were before, making it clear that no one had entered the room before. It made me calm down a little, before I pressed at my forehead trying to lessen the headache. Closing my eyes, I kept massaging my forehead it slowly subsided. And when it was considerably low, I shook my head a little before taking a closer look at the surroundings. My eyes gazed at the small venttion fan, through which the red light wasing inside the room. Narrowing my eyes at that, I wondered what it could be. But since I couldn''t figure it out, I decided to look at how much time has passed. Hopefully it''s only been an hour- [Time left for Tutorial to end: 42 Hours: 15 minutes: 17 Seconds!] "¡­" I rubbed my eyes to see that notification again, but it didn''t change. Widening my eyes, I then sighed as I fell back on the floor. "Shit!" I cursed under my low breath. So many points missed. Though I wanted to whine a little, I decided that there was no point in doing so. I mean I did take this into ount, but since there was no mention in the description that I would pass out for 100 hours, I thought I wouldn''t pass out. "Not everything is mentioned in the description, I guess?" I thought about it but I guess I should be content with the fact that I was still alive. In a way it was a miracle in itself. Speaking of miracles¡­ [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! Title: [Goblin Hunter] ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Gift: [Cartography (Lower Mortal Grade-5)] Body-Talent: [Mortal!] Health: 225/225 Mana: 5250/5250 Attributes: Strength: 7.7 ( +5.0) Agility: 9.2 (+2.0) Constitution: 5.0 + (15.0) Stamina: 8.0 ( +5.0) Intelligence: 325.0 Wisdom: 26.0 Charm: 3.4 Free Attribute Points: 0 Points: 164,871! Skills: Active: [Hunt!] [Blood Gaze!] [Sleep!] [Aura!] Passive: [Perception!] [Mana Regeneration!][Mana Sense!] ¡­ [Mana Regeneration(Passive) Rank: B Effects: Regenerates 700 MP per minute!] [Mana Sense(Passive) Rank: C Effects: Mana Proficiency increased by 30%! -All Mana Based Skills will be 30% more effective! -All Mana Based Skill will cost 15% less mana! -All Mana Based skills will have their cooldown reduced by 15%! -All Mana Based skills will have their duration increased by 30%!] ¡­ "This is good," I smiled as it had quite an effect. This should serve as a proper foundation for any mana skills that I want. And with that done, I then moved towards the furniture as I began removing them one by one. I was a bit in a hurry because the number of yers I observed on the [Map] was about 30 or something, all in the safe zone. And not in the outer field but in the school building. They could probably be sleeping given it''s the night time, but the red coloured light was making me a bit nervous. Plus I had no idea how much the tutorial had changed in the past few days, given how things rapidly progressed in the first 24 hours itself. -Chap! Walking out of the door, my foot stepped on the water that reached upto my ankle. Slowly the water entered into the room where I was, while my eyes observed the stairs to the first floor, submerged into the water. Taking a deep breath, I took another step. -Chap! Chap! Chap! Since I couldn''t go down, I decided to go up instead. One step at a time, I reached the roof of the two storied cafe that I was in, and then I opened up the door to the roof. -Creeeaaaak! With a creaking sound, the jammed door slowly opened up, showing me a view that I could have not expected even in 100 years of my life. Floating stones in the air, with a red sky at the top. The ashen city, submerged into the water with only the 2 floored buildings or above visible to the eyes. The air was pungent, filled with a sulfur smell, while the floating pitch ck clouds seemed to be alive at the moment. But that was only the beginning of what seemed the end of the world. Monsters, the same flying type that I saw on day one, were flying in the air all around. At least a dozen of them, circling the entire city. There were smaller ones as well. Dinosaurs like bony monsters, present everywhere in the sky like vultures. Waiting for their prey toe out of the nest. I could see about one of them on the next building as well. Their height was roughly around 5 meters, but they were rather bony with most of their mass present in their giant wings. Walking a bit closer to the edge, I saw that there was something in the water as well. Probably another type of monster, which made me sigh a little. Even though the safe zone was about 3 miles away, the difficulty to reach there was increased by 10. I could see the 2 dozen flying monsters circling that area as well. So. Going by the water is not the best choice, and the destination is a dozen times more dangerous than here right now. Even if we were to stay here, nobody knows how things will proceed in thest days of the tutorials. "All right. So, what should be my next move here?" I thought as I began nning my next move. Chapter 30: [Firepower!] [Safe Zone Area] "Hey! How long do you think we need to hide here?" One of the male survivors asked as he looked at the flying monsters above the high school building. Like vultures they were circling around the area trying to prey on the yers who were trying to venture out in search of food or weapons to increase their [safe time]. As easy as it was in the beginning, the situation flipped in thest two days, making even the smallest contribution worth fighting over. "I don''t know about you, but I got about 50 hours so I am fine. What about you?" His partner stationed to watch over those monsters with him asked with a hint ofplexity in his words. "Same as you," the first boy sighed before he looked at another pair of boysing up for the next shift. "How is the situation?" One of the boys asked the scouts, who only shook their heads before speaking,"bad. How about things there? Is Luke still going on with that¡­ thing of his?" The new duo sighed as they nodded. Their expressions were grim as they looked at each other before one of them got closer and hushed, "I have heard that he was nning to have his way with all the girls here, with 7 or 8 boys. Though because of the system and safe zone, the girls are still safe. Just that¡­ we don''t know what will happen in the next tutorial." "WHAT THE F-" One of the scouts was infuriated while the newer scout covered his mouth immediately. The other new scout then sighed as he grumbled, "Just where is Alice when you need her. Only she can fight that monster now¡­ how did things end up this bad?" Things were bad in the safe zone. Extremely bad. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] . "All right. So, what should be my next move here?" My eyes traced the city around as far as I could see before I looked at the amount of points I had right now. While it would be better to go find the survivors in the safe zone, I think it would be wiser to gain some strength first. "You there?" I asked and he appeared. My favorite shopkeeper in this apocalypse, the white goblin. His smile widened, as he looked at me with that ugly grin. His eyes observed my body with an ever so exciting look, before heughed out loud¡­ "Kekekekeke! You are finally awake! Kekekeke! This boring event is going to be fun again! Kukukuku!" "Show me the [Shop]" I asked as he presented me with all the things avable there. "The number of things are quite less thanst time, huh?" I thought as I scrolled through the shop. It seems like most things are bought now. Even 3 of the top 10 times were sold, making me wonder who took them. "A lot of things happened while you were slumbering. There are many people who are now getting better at using their gifts, a few even reaching above you. If you want to catch up with them, it would be better to hurry up," the white goblin spoke as he observed my body with interest. It didn''t shock me at all that there were people who got stronger while I was in slumber. Given how Mark and Alice''s were, it was obvious that others would have something simr as well. Perhaps even better. It won''t take long for them to get strong at all. But that never concerned me. Not even once. "I will take these two," I spoke as I selected the two items I thought would work the best for me. [Weapon: Twin Guns of Azeroth! Rank: E Description: Allows the user to shoot mana bullets at a rapid speed. These dual guns have the power to pierce even the densest of the defenses! Attack power: Wisdom x Mana Applied x 0.1 Cost: 115,000 Points!] [Weapon Enhancement Potion (Permanent) (Grade - E) Effects: Enhances the effect of the Weapon by 20%! Restriction: -Only work on weapons equal or below E-Grade! Cost: 45000 Points!] "You are changing weapons, huh? Hmm. With your new powers, I think it is a good choice. But I don''t think it would work in the long run though," the white goblin spoke again. His face analyzed my choices, while I ignored him. He was more talkative than before now for some reason. [GM Points: 1498!] I gave it a bit of thought before applying changes on the serum again. [Weapon Enhancement Potion (Permanent) (Grade - E) Effects: Enhances the effect of the Weapon by 50%! Restriction: -Only work on weapons equal or below E-Grade! -Only work on [Twin Guns of Azeroth!] -Only works in Tutorial 3!] [Would you like to make changes for 340 GM Points?!] It was cheap. I wondered if it was because it was an E-Grade potion, or was it because it was limited to an E-Grade weapon? Though giving it another thought I then increased the effect''s percentage again. [Weapon Enhancement Potion (Permanent) (Grade - E) Effects: Enhances the effect of the Weapon by 100%! Restriction: -Only work on weapons equal or below E-Grade! -Only work on [Twin Guns of Azeroth!] -Only works in Tutorial 3!] [Would you like to make the changes for 1500 GM Points?] Clicking [Yes], I then used that potion on the guns. And with that, I had used up almost all of my points. Both GM Points, and the tutorial ones. [Weapon: Twin Guns of Azeroth! Rank: E Description: Allows the user to shoot mana bullets at a rapid speed. These dual guns have the power to pierce even the densest of the defenses! Attack power: Wisdom x Mana Applied x 0.2] "Just what kind of absurd [Gift] do you have that allows you to modify everything?" The Goblin looked at me with a dumbfounded look, while I just smiled at him before pointing my gun at the monster on the building next to me. I wonder how many points that guy is worth. The D-grade boss monster took about 1500 Attack power to be killed. So, I could only hope this one should be the same as well. "Let''s start with 500," I mumbled as I put 500 Mana into the gun, creating a shining blue bullet inside it. And aiming properly using the [Perception!]I focused as much as I could. -Bang! The first bullet left the gun, hitting the forehead of that flying bird, as it was thrown a few meters away. I could see it was hurt badly, which gave me a rough idea of its durability. -Bang! Another 500 Mana, and that bird fell on the ground. It was breathing still, but was unable to move at all. -Bang! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Pelikan!] [+20000 Points!] [+500 GM Points!] 1500 Mana means about 1000 attacks if I include [Mana sense] and all. And it takes about 100 seconds for that much Mana to refill. The points were good and the hunting speed was nice as well. Though given the opportunity, I thought it would be better to work on my guns and increase the efficiency of the guns as my primary objective. ''I wonder how much it would cost to increase the Grade of the gun?'' I thought as I simply changed the grade to check the points required. [Weapon: Twin Guns of Azeroth! Rank: D Description: Allows the user to shoot mana bullets at a rapid speed. These dual guns have the power to pierce even the densest of the defenses! Attack power: Wisdom x Mana Applied x 2 Effects: -With each shot hit, the user''s chance ofnding a critical hit increases by 1%!] [Would you like to make the changes for 25,000 GM Points?] ''Oh nice! This could be a game changer,'' my eyes lit up, before I saw two more flying monstersing in this direction. I stretched a little, before I then pointed my gun at them. Focusing properly, I began charging up the gun, this time with 1500 MP! -Bang! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Pelikan!] [+20,000 Points!] [+500 GM Points!] -Bang! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Pelikan!] [+20,000 Points!] [+500 GM Points!] The shots attracted a few more monsters from the surrounding, but my mana was below 500 now. I could feel a strange weakness in my body, probably due to mana exhaustion, so I slowly walked inside the building again. Taking out the sword, I then switched the weapons in case a monster appeared from the water as well. And pretty sure enough, two goblin-like monsters, this time greenish blue in color and fins all over their body, wereing up the stairs. -sh! -sh! [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Swamp Goblin!] [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Swamp Goblin!] [+2000 Points!] [+50 GM Points!] [+2000 Points!] [+50 GM Points!] "It''s going to be a long day, huh?" I thought as I saw a few more of those swamp goblinsing from the underwater. Their number increased as time passed, which kind of made me happy. I was getting closer to my goal after all. Chapter 31: [He is my saviour!] [Julia''s POV!] "How many points have you secured?" Emily asked Samantha, who was barely on her two feets. "20,000," Samantha smiled with her hands raised in the air as she was dragged by the white haired girl, Olivia, back into the building before another of those flying monsters ended up appearing. "This should help usst the tutorial, I guess," I mumbled, as I too entered the building before re, the red haired girl, closed the door. It took us about 12 hours of nning, preparation and fighting to kill a single monster. Though those 20,000 Points were worth it. With this we could move into the next tutorial. "Didn''t I tell ya that it''s fine? We can easily cross the tutorial without depending on that bastard Luke and his friends. Seriously, the way they were ogling us! It made me want to kill him so bad back then," Samantha was angry. Even though she was the most tired, she was still the most energetic. "If only he didn''t get that weapon. Fucking piece of shit," re cursed while my blood boiled as well. I had seen what kind of person he was after all. Though remembering him made me recall some ugly memories¡­ and some nice memories. "There you go blushing again. Tell me Julia, this crush of yours. Did he really save you from a mind controlling shape shifting monster? You aren''t exgaretting, right?" Olivia smirked a little, annoying me a little. I red at her before speaking, "Hey! He is my savior! Don''t talk bad about him! And it''s not love¡­ it''s more of an idolship. YES! That''s what it is!" "Yeah. Yeah. We believe you. Hopefully he can at least be helpful in killing a pelikan and is not a piece of shit like Luke, or else he won''t be joining our group," re spoke as she looked at me while I just lowered my gaze a little. ''It''s fine. He was strong before¡­ surely he must have gotten much stronger enough to kill those monsters as well,'' I consoled myself as I somehow had a firm belief that he was way strong than he let out to be. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] . Standing at the small pile of 15 [Pelikans], I looked around to see the area where a couple of yers were present. It was kind of in between the safe zone and this ce, which made me wonder if they were trapped or something? Between the water monsters and those in the air, they were probably juggling for their lives there. Or maybe they could be killing those monsters? Who knows how much growth each of them had in the 4 days. Anyways, it seemed I needed to go there if I wanted to confirm what was actually happening. I could see the apartment using [Perception!], but I couldn''t find any person standing at the top of the 7 storied apartment. [GM Points: 8750!] I looked at the GM points, before I wondered what kind of skill I should make that would help me not only in this situation, but also in multiple scenarios. ''A passive skill that makes traveling easy? Something not superhuman but still near the limit of human capability? Walking on water would be a bit overpowered but won''t help me in conditions where there is no water. Super jump? Double jump? It''s good but if I get a flying type skillter then it bes pretty useless,'' I thought of a couple of things before I set on something far simpler. [Parkour (Passive) Grade: E Effect: Allows the user to go to the limits of humans and perform meticulous tricks with ease. Jumping, maneuver, and body control will be maxed to the human limits, making it easier for the user to reach various destinations with ease.] [Would you like to create the skill for 15000 Points?] ''Even ''human limits'' is overdoing it, huh?'' I thought before changing ''maxed to the human limits'' -> ''increased exponentially within the human limits'' [Would you like to create the skill for 5000 Points?] As soon as I clicked yes, I found my body control increased quite a lot. I could feel the tense muscles of my body, and control the contraction and rxation of the muscles to quite a limit. It was a bit of a strange feeling, but it wasn''t that hard to get used to. "All right. Let''s go," I stretched a bit before looking at the roof of the next apartment that was one storey above this one. Then finding the gaps between the walls, I began climbing the wall at a rapid speed. It came all too naturally, as if my body was way too familiar with the wall pattern, like a spider I climbed the wall within seconds, before reaching the next building and began running towards the next one. With the increased agility and strength, jumping down a floor was easy, and pushing my body a little, I could jump at least 15 meters ahead without any hindrance, crossing the gaps in between wherever necessary. -Bang! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Pelikan!] [+500 GM Points!] [+20000 Points!] -Bang! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Pelikan!] [+500 GM Points!] [+20000 Points!] Killing the monsters present on the way, I then looked at the distance where the building was. Using the map, and corrting the ce I found it about a kilometer ahead. And given it took me 30 minutes to cross thest 2 kilometers, it should take another 15 minutes. Though rather than hurrying as fast as I could, I decided to be cautious and move a little more slowly. Observing the surroundings and making sure there were no traps in between would be the best way to ensure my survival for now. And thus for the next 60 minutes, I spent half the time looking at the water where the water goblins were swimming around, and the sky where the number of pelikans were a little lesser than usual. Reaching 200 meters away from the building, I then slowly circled around the area, but there was nothing peculiar about that building that would put me up on my guard. Still, I decided to drink a couple of stealth potions as I walked closer to the building. 10 minutester, I was about a dozen meters away from the building, standing at the roof of the apartment adjacent to it. This was the only apartment with its roof barely above the water, while the other houses, shops were submerged. "All right," I then walked back towards the other edge, preparing a short run for the leap that I was about to make. Even though there were water goblins in the water down there, I believe my stealth was enough to evade their senses. And preparing my mind in the next few seconds, I focused on the balcony on the second floor and immediately began running with the most powerful dash I could muster. Reaching the edge of the railing less roof, I then jumped with all my might. -Thump! I reached the balcony easily, but didn''t waste even a single moment standing there as I started moving up the balcony. It was a necessary move given the goblins could have heard me down the water. I must secure a higher ground if I want to avoid an unfair fight here. -Ssh! Rwar! And just like a predator waiting for a prey, one of the goblins jumped at me instantly. Though by the time it reached me, I was already on the third floor. And before they couldprehend what I was doing, I reached the fourth and fifth floor. I could still hear them growling, but I stopped climbing only when I reached the roof of the seven floored apartment. Even then I was vignt about the surroundings, as I kept checking around the area. Both for the goblins and the pelikans. Though forget about the monsters, there wasn''t even a single yer on the roof. In the map, I could see some yers, a total of 7 exactly where I was standing. I gave it a thought and came to the conclusion that they might be on the lower floors probably? With that in mind, I slowly walked towards the gate of the roof. I tried opening it, but it seemed to be blocked from the other side, which made me ponder if I should break it. But then I looked around and decided to take the window outside the building, near the stairway. I think it was a ss window, and was big enough for a human to enter. Moving around the locked stairway, I checked the distance first, and then parkoured towards the closed but broken window with ease. Opening the broken window through the hole in the shattered ss, I stepped inside the building. "?" I tilted my head at the locked gate at the rooftop where 5-6 chairs were ced against it, as if trying to block anything thates through it. Were they running from a Pelikan? Or was there something else outside there that I did not know of? My thoughts ran a little, while I stepped down the stairs. Since I knew the ce where the yers were, I had to check only one room each floor, thest room on the right corner. I thought I might be needing to check for a couple of floors before finding anything but opening the door to the room on the 7th floor, I found the yers that I was looking for. When I opened the door, they all looked in my direction with a panicked but weakened expression. I could see the confused look on their faces as they tried to see beyond the door. Perhaps they were too weak to even see through my stealth? Given their condition right now, it does make sense. But how did this happen? Even if Luke was dumb, Mark and Alice weren''t the type of people to leave others to die. They were self centered and strong, but they were kind and humble as well. ''Seems like things are moreplicated than I was anticipating.'' I then removed the stealth cloak, making them widen their eyes at me. Looking at one of the familiar face, I asked the first question that appeared in my mind, "Julia. What is going on here?" Chapter 32: [Glad to be Alive!] "Julia. What is going on here?" Among the 7 survivors, I saw that all of them were females, including Julia. There were a few familiar faces, like those from the cheerleaders. But I kind of forgot what their name was. "Are you sent here by Luke?!!" One of the girls with red hair spoke as she looked at me with pure rage and disgust. I think they wereparatively calmer when they were expecting a monster? Just what happened while I was gone? "He is not," and Julia spoke as she slowly walked towards me, as a drop of tears appeared in her eyes. I was confused by that for a moment but Julia continued walking before she stopped two meters away from me and spoke, "I thought I would never get to say thank you." A relieved smile appeared on her face. She wiped those tears off her eyes as she spoke," Adrian. Thank you for saving me from that monster. I have no excuse for what I have done and I don''t mind if you don''t forgive me for it. But still, I would like you to know that I owe my life to you. Thank you, Adrian. Thank you for helping me out. Thank you for staying alive." She bowed deeply as the others were then surprised before they observed my face with a shocked expression. They had questions they wanted to ask, but they waited for Julia and my conversation to end. And after giving a brief thought, I spoke, "It seems you have told them about what happened on the roof." Julia flinched a little, while those who were looking at me with slight doubt, were now looking at me with awe a little. A few of them had a mysterious smile as well¡­ Anyways¡­ "You guys seem hungry. Would you like to have some food?" I then patted Julia''s head, before she looked up and saw me smiling at her. And then taking out a bunch of bread packets that I was saving forter, I passed them towards one of the girls. I also took out a packet of fruits that I was saving and then gave it to Julia who was standing straight. "So. What is our little hero-wanna-be up to now?" I took out another apple, while the girls just looked at me with a stupefied expression. Taking a bite from it, I looked at Julia who came out of her stupor. And then her eyes turned rageful as she spoke, "That f*cking bastard is acting like a king asking the rest of us to bow down to him. Ever since he bought that mana de, he has be unstoppable. And with no one to oppose him, the yers had to follow him. Or else, they would be like us who wandered out of the safe zone." ''So he chose that path, huh? Regretful. I hoped he could be a good leader,'' I sighed but then there was one more thing that I didn''t understand. "What about Mike and Alice?" I was a little confused. Alice should have been powerful enough to take care of Mike even with his mana sword and stuff. "Ah! That duo went with the NPCs regarding a quest or something. I think they were dropping them into the forest. Nobody has heard of them ever since," one of the girls with curly purple hair and purple eyes spoke as she ate the bread. She looked like one from the first years of high school. I smiled and then gave her an apple from the inventory. "What''s your name?" I asked and she smiled," Mira." "Just how much have you stored in there?" The red haired girl from the beginning asked, while I just smiled at her. "I am re by the way," she added. "I am Olivia. You can call me Liv," the girl with silvery white hair spoke. "Samantha. Call me Sam! I am from the cheerleaders group remember!" An energetic brat with brown tomboyish hair spoke out with one of her hands raised. "Nom Nom¡­ Tisha.. nom nom¡­" a ck haired glutton. "I am¡­ Emily," the shy girl with long ck hair spoke as she looked at me with slight amazement. I looked at the two with the cheerleaders group. I remembered there were more of them, which made me wonder what happened to them? "Emily and Samantha, right? I think I met you back then," I spoke, making them nod at me before they went to eat on their own. Since they were not going to talk about what happened to the rest of their group, I wasn''t going to start that topic either. "All right. I guess, I have a general idea of what happened with Luke, Alice and Mark," I paused as I collected my thoughts before turning to Julia,"so what happened with the tutorial in thest few days? And how did you end up in this situation?" "??" They were confused with my question but then I spoke," I¡­ found a dungeon. I was trapped in it for thest few days. The rewards were nice, so it was worth it. I hope you can understand." The confused looks were reced with shocked and then slight jealousy. But then these girls just sighed before one of them spoke out¡­ "I''ll exin," Olivia spoke out, making me turn at the white hair girl who was sitting on the bed right beside me. She then began exining everything in detail that happened in thest 4 days that I was sleeping. ordingly, the rain continued for the next 2 days without any pause. On the first day, Luke returned and started getting angry at everyone on how they were weak or not being helpful at all. He then decided to go solo on his own. From what the people told, he had killed 100s of goblins on his own that day. Alice and Mark also left with the NPCs that day. On the second day, he came back wounded. Though he was weak, he was smiling like crazy. In his hands was a mana de that was one of the most costly items in the [Shop]. With that he became almost unstoppable, creating absurd rules of his kingdom and stuff. Those who would follow him, will get everything they want. And those who won''t, must get out of the safe zone. Or else, only death awaits them. This divided the group into two, those who will follow Luke and those who won''t. The rain waiter had reached at least 3 meters above by then, and everyone had bought the boat in the [Shop] for travel purposes. So, we, one of the groups who didn''t want to get involved with Luke, tried to travel as far as possible from the safe zone and locate another area where we can safely stay. The second night and the third day was when the water goblins appeared. They were at least 3-4 times stronger than normal goblins within the water. And they knew better hunting patterns. Hence, traveling by the water was near impossible and we could only stall for time. By the third night, the blue sky turned red, and well¡­ there was no more distinction of night and day. Just a dull red sky, that coloured the entire world in crimson. When there were 60 hours left for the tutorial end, those monsters in the sky appeared. They were both strong and had the advantage of the air and a rather fast speed. Hunting them was near futile and staying at the roof only made the yers easy targets. 50 hours left for the tutorial to end and we noticed those giant worms appeared in the sky as well. They haven''t attacked anyone on the ground, but we can never be sure. "And now that only 40 hours are left for the tutorial to end, we believe things are only going to turn worse. Some of us believe the safe zone is our only option before everything turns for the worst. But as you know¡­ there is Luke¡­" Olivia spoke all of it in one breath, while I kept ncing at the red sky. Well, a lot many things have happened in thest few days, and it seems like things are only going crazier at a faster rate now. I turned quiet for a few minutes, taking all that information in. There were many things to consider, many to know. But in the end I was only left with two proper choices. Either I have to look for Mark and Alice. Or I have to go to the safe zone and confront Luke. The former would get me into various troubles andplicated situations, while thetter is a straightforward ticket to the next tutorial. So the choice was obvious, "I think I am going to look for Mark and Alice first. What about you guys?" "We have secured enough points to stay alive until the next tutorial. For now we will stay here, score some more points and then go back to the safe zone when there are about 24 hours left," Olivia answered and the girls nodded. "You know. You can join us. We fairly divide points between all of us," Samantha looked at Julia and then at me, but I smiled as I spoke, "Thanks. But my skill set is now based mostly for solo hunts. I will only be a hindrance in your group." They seemed a little regretful but they nodded at my choice. I then took out a dozen bananas and passed them onto the girls. Since I need to refill my inventory with potions, items and weapons mostly, I was going to throw these anyway. The girls tried to reject it but I said it was fine. And then looking at Julia, who was finer than thest time I saw her, I smiled and spoke, "good to see you alive too Julia. See you again." And then I waved at the rest of them before I put on my cloak again, activating stealth and walking away from there. Chapter 33: [Cooking!] "Damn he was cool!" Olivia spoke out a few minutes after Adrian vanished. Though everyone was rxed, their eyes soon turned to Julia with a bit of pity in them. But then all of them turned to Tisha who was sitting in the corner finishing up thest of the bread piece. "How is he?" Asked Samantha with her eyes narrowing at Trisha. She wiped the bread crumbs on her mouth before she looked at Julia and then the rest of them before speaking with a far serious voice, "He is strong." The rest of them were a bit surprised but they kind of expected that from the information that they obtained from Julia. But the Samantha wanted to confirm something more, "How strong? Was it the same as Luke where you can''t read because he was too powerful? Or you could see his stats? Did you get any glimpse of any of his skills?" And those questions, Trisha made a rather odd expression before speaking, "I don''t know. To be fair, I am sure he is strong but how much¡­ I dare not say." Everyone turned silent. Trisha seemed a bit scared as well before took a long breath before speaking, "When I used my skill on him. It wasn''t showing [The Target is too powerful!] or showing his stats but¡­" "But?" Julia "But?" Samantha "But?" re "It said, [You do not have the authority to view the status of the Target''s information!]," Trisha spoke as she gulped before she looked at the rest of the girls looking at her with their eyes widening slowly. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] . Moving back up on the roof, I then looked in the direction where Alice and Mark were. ording to the map, they were with a few more yers and a dozen NPCs there. [Points: 634,871!] [GM Points: 6750!] Among the top 10 items of the [Shop], I think only 4 were left now. Two were weapons, an A-Grade Bow and a B-Grade Spear. Both of which weren''t appealing enough to me. The third one was an artifact which helped increase the fire resistance. It could be usefulter, but I don''t want it right now. Finally, there was this¡­ [Skill: Professional Cooking! Grade: B Description: Allows the user to enhance the effect of the food cooked by him to a certain degree! The taste of the food, the nutrition it provides, will be all boosted! There is a chance of getting temporary buffs from the food cooked by the user! Effects: -The food will be more tasty, highly nutritious and increase the mood of the user who eats it! -There is a chance of gaining random buff from the food (Upto 10%). -You can cook all types of foods and will naturally see recipes with just basic ingredients! -You can see the cooking method of all processed and cooked food items. Cost: 350,000 Points!] Earlier, I wouldn''t even be thinking of taking it, but now that I had so many points lying in waste with more toe, I decided to buy it. It''s not like I don''t like cooking. With that done, I bought about a dozen mana potions and half a dozen health potions. And then looking through the shop, I think someone was buying all the things that were cheaper. All the times except those which can be bought indefinitely, were sold. ''There isn''t even a single item below 100,000 Points anymore,'' I thought before closing the [Shop!]. I closed my eyes for a few moments before collecting my thoughts and then I sighed as I reached two conclusions. "It''s Luke again," I spoke as I slowly got down from the top of the apartment. He probably was trying to put pressure on the rest of the people in the tutorial. His goal of superiority was pretty much obvious now. Though¡­ "He is still a fool, nheless." My second conclusion was based on two things. Half the things in the [Shop]were useless or they were items that can be stolen. Other than the [Aura] [Cooking] [Mana Sword], all other skills were [E-Grade] or lesser. Essentially it was a waste of points. Second was that, nobody knows if points are only used in the [Shop] or maybe something elseter on. There was no saying that new items won''t be added in the future. I mean, we just got introduced to [Shop] in the tutorial, after all. Plus there was addition of those [Boats] as well. "Well. It does not concern me," I yawned as I had taken all the things that I wanted from the [Shop!]. Unless new items appear, I don''t think I would need to call that white goblin again. Jumping from one building to another, I was more focused on hunting and increasing my GM Points. The tutorial wasing to an end, and I should make the most out of it. -Bang! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Pelikan!] [+500 GM Points!] -Bang! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Pelikan!] [+500 GM Points!] -Bang! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Pelikan!] [+500 GM Points!] ¡­ [In the South corner of the city: Near the forest area where the Group of Alice and Mark was!] "Well. That makes about 1 Million Points. Do we even need anything from the [Shop] anymore? Most of the things are useless anyway," Mark spoke as he raised his silver bow, and took a shot at another [Pelikan!]ing his way. -Shing! The arrow flew straight to the heart of that bird, killing it in one shot. "Maybe we will need it in the next Tutorial? There are certainly way too many points in the tutorial than we need for the shop. For now, let''s just collect as much as we could," Alice, who was much more frank with Mark, now spoke as she clicked her fingers creating 10 [Fire Balls!] within a few seconds. This is what she got after using her [Upgrade] skill on the [Fireball] spell. The quantity and the quality both increased with only a single upgrade. And given the gift Alice had, a single spell was enough to burn down a dozen water goblins at once. "I am pretty much useless here, aren''t I?" Alex, the third strongest guy in the group, had a wry smile as he stood there guarding the NPCs behind Alice and Mark. Other than him, there were two more people incharge of helping the NPCs in case they needed anything. "Having you protecting our back is a big relief Alex," Mark tried to cheer him up, but that didn''t go well as he then killed three more pelikans in the next three shots. Then Mark sighed as he spoke, "I wonder what Adrian is doing. He should have gotten back to the safe zone, right? I still feel bad that we had to leave him urgently." Though Alice didn''t think it was wrong of them to do so. "We were pressed for time, Mark. The quest was pretty urgent if you forgot about it," Alice spoke making Mark sigh as he mumbled, "I know. But still¡­" "Don''t worry. Given how he is, he might be doing even better than we do. For now, if we want to be helpful, we must do our best as well," Alice said, cheering Mark up as he nodded and then looked at the iing monsters. "Hehe. Good thing he is naive," Alex spoke as heughed a little before turning to Alice," but it''s sad, right? I wonder how he will react when he finds that his friend is no more. What are you going to say to him then?" Alice was confused before she asked," what do you mean he is no more?" Alex scoffed before speaking," Please. Last I remember he was barely lucky. Plus he went out in the rain at night when the monsters were high, remember? Him not returning should have been a clue already." "I guess so. But you see," Alice then created a couple of fireballs and threw at the monsters again before continuing, "You probably don''t know about him, but from the same ss as him and as the ss president, I was supposed to help out every person there is. Including Adrian." The narration began gathering Alex''s attention as he looked at Alice with slight interest. "His story was far more odd than anyone else''s. You can say he was surviving even before all this apocalypse," Alice spoke making Alex narrow his eyes at her before she continued, "In the beginning it was a normal check up, but because I was intrigued, I looked thoroughly into his life. Even used my uncle''sptop. My uncle is amissioner by the way. So it was something like this¡­" "Adrian was an orphan and spent the first decade of his life in Saint Peter''s Orphanage." "At the age of 10, Adrian ran away from the orphanage when the father of that orphanage tried molesting him. He found a job in the back alley, and grew up among the thieves and gangsters, where killing or being killed was normal. Fun fact, that child molestor father was killed within the next three years." "Adrian worked for 3 years, before he suddenly joined a middle school through some backdoor means. The date matches the death of that child molester. Adrianter also found a part time job where he worked relentlessly, paying for his rent and school fees. His daily necessities were fulfilled by his savings from 3 years." Alice paused as she created another round of fireballs and threw at thest batch of goblins. She stretched a little before continuing¡­ "Our school was famous for bullying and fighting as well. There were many from rich backgrounds who loved to pick on aloof or silent kids. But yet, why do you think Adrian was never picked even once in his 3 years of high school? He should have been an easy target, right?" Alex was silent as he heard Alice''s words before she concluded, "You see Alex, Adrian isn''t the type of person who would die from something like this. His survival skills are far more than anyone present in this tutorial. And if you still doubt my words, just think of this. Was he really lucky to find those NPCs?" Alice then turned around focusing on the monsters in the sky, this time she had a slight smirk on her face. "And while you still have time, why don''t you ask the NPCs how he saved them. Maybe you will find something interesting?" She spoke before unleashing a few more fireballs. Alex on the other hand, looked at her with a deep gaze before he turned towards the NPCs. Giving it a bit of thought, he began walking towards them. Especially the first batch that Adrian saved on the first day of the tutorial. Chapter 34: [Last Day of the Tutorial!] [Adrian''s POV!] . [26 Hours: 33 minutes: 12 seconds!] I looked at the time left for the tutorial to end, before looking at Mark and Alice in the distance, protecting those NPCs from the monstersing from the forest. It''s been 12 hours since I arrived here, but given how well they were performing, I decided to wait and watch them while killing the iing waves of monsters. Also, it was a perfect hunting spot since the monsters from the tutorial were attracted to therge group of NPCs. Plus me killing those monsters will reduce the burden on the group as well. It''s a win-win situation. [Weapon: Twin Guns of Azeroth! Rank: D Description: Allows the user to shoot mana bullets at a rapid speed. These dual guns have the power to pierce even the densest of the defenses! Status: Bound to Adrian John Redriguez! Attack power: Wisdom x Mana Applied x 2 Effects: -With each shot hit, the user''s chance ofnding a critical hit increases by 1%!] I increased the grade of the weapon, and the next grade was costing 125,000 points, so I was trying to move towards that goal. Though¡­ [GM Points: 56,450!] Even after killing more than 100 Pelikans in thest 13 hours, I realized that it would take at least another 9 or 10 hours to get 125,000 GM points. Hence, I wondered if I should try increasing the grade of my other items instead? I mean, given how things were going from bad to worse, and how the number of monsters were increasing at a rapid speed, I should at least focus on defense in case I ran out of mana. And with that thought point, I went to something that I was looking for sometime now. [Gloves: ck Leather Gloves of Grace Grade: E Durability: 500/500!] It was the only E-Grade item from the set that I had. The fact that it was nk made me wonder if I could custom it to Wisdom Stat. [Gloves: ck Leather Gloves of Grace Grade: D Effects: +5 Wisdom! Durability: 5000/5000!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 10,000 GM Points?] I gave it a bit of thought before increasing the grade once again while adding another effect that I thought I could use right now. [Gloves: ck Leather Gloves of Grace Grade: C Status: Bound to Adrian John Rodriguez! Effects: +20 Wisdom! +Mana Recycle: Restores 20% of the Mana used! [Max Storage Capacity: 10,000!] Durability: 25000/25000!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 70,000 GM Points?] I smiled as I looked at that effect. Even though it was a bit on the costly side, it wasn''t too far from the target. With this increased Wisdom, I should be able to kill a single pelikan with only 10 to 15 MP,pared to the 40-50 MP that I was consuming per shot right now. And even if a C-Grade Monster appears, hopefully a charge shot of 10,000 MP should be able to take it out. Given how we are at the edge of the Tutorial, it seems like a C-Grade would be the final boss here. "All right. Let''s continue then," I smiled as I saw the dozens of pelikansing in my direction. -BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! [+500 GM Points!] [+500 GM Points!] [+500 GM Points!] . . 2 Hours Later¡­ [GM Points: 80,450 Points!] I stretched a little before upgrading those gloves. It should give me another edge for the time being in case Ie across something uglier. [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! Title: [Goblin Hunter] ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Gift: [Cartography (Lower Mortal Grade-5)] Body-Talent: [Mortal!] Health: 225/225 Mana: 5250/5250 Attributes: Strength: 7.7 ( +5.0) Agility: 9.2 (+2.0) Constitution: 5.0 + (15.0) Stamina: 8.0 ( +5.0) Intelligence: 325.0 Wisdom: 26.0. (+20) Charm: 3.4 Free Attribute Points: 0 Points: 38,664,871! Skills: Active: [Hunt!] [Blood Gaze!] [Sleep!] [Aura!] Passive: [Perception!] [Mana Regeneration!][Mana Sense!] [Professional Cooking!] ¡­ "30 more minutes till thest day of the tutorial, huh?" I mumbled as I looked at the timer before observing the sky in front of me. It was clear red with empty clouds. Except those flying giant worm like monsters floating high up in the sky, and the floating rocks that seemed more numerous than the first time I saw them, nothing else was there. Not a single pelikan, or any other monster. It should have been good news given how there were no more of those flying monsters, but since there were still 24 hours left, it felt more ominous than anything before. Looking at Alice, Mark and Alex talking with the NPC girl, I decided that it was about time I visited them. Looking how tense they were, it seemed like they had some information about what was going on here. And then jumping from one building to another, I covered the distance for the next 20 minutes, before I reached the rooftop where they were standing. -Thud! Jumping on the roof, I attracted the attention of the NPCs and the yers, before I removed my stealth. Some of the rmed yers pointed their weapons towards me, while the NPCs narrowed their eyes at me. But as they recognized me, warmth appeared in their eyes. "Adrian!" Mark shouted while Alex and the two other yers were confused before they widened their eyes in realization. Alex was particrly looking at me with a deep look I moved towards them, especially Alice and Mark. They both were smiling as they observed me, while I reached them and asked, "You both okay?" They nodded before my eyes turned to Alex. Last time I saw him, he was in a rather devastated state. "Good to see you doing better thanst time," I spoke as he was surprised before I then turned back to Alice. "I would love to catch up with everything but this sudden silence is giving me chills," I said before I looked at the empty sky once again. Ironically I felt more safe when there were more monsters in the sky¡­ "It''s the final day of the tutorial. ording to this NPC, the Teen Pelikans will being now," Alice said with a pensive look on her face, while I narrowed my eyes as I asked," what do you mean by Teen Pelikans?" At that Mark gulped before speaking," those flying monsters in the sky. You have seen them right?" I nodded as he continued," the NPCs just remembered some crucial information. It''s that, those monsters¡­ they were just babies. The weakest of the bunch¡­ and another thing. They were all produced from a single mother Pelikan. The monster that ate their entire vige." "Ah¡­ fuck!" I could only mutter before I realized the gravity of the situation. Though it made me question one more thing. "What were you guys doing here? I heard that you got some form of quest?" I asked as I looked at Alice who answered with a nod, "Yeah. It said that the chief of the vigers would appear from the forest and we should take the NPCs there before watching the finale of the apocalypse. Given the time, there are only 20 more minutes before the timer ends. After that we will return to the safe zone." -KRAAAAAAAAAA!!! But then a voice appeared from the forest. A loud voice that sent chills down everyone present on the roof. And then there was a deadly silence that made us hold our breath. "What was that-" Mark spoke but then -KRAAAA!! -KIIII! -KUEHEHEHEHEE!! Loud voices not only from the forest, but also from the waters below. And in the next few seconds¡­ -Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Three giant Pelikans, about a dozen times bigger than the ones before appeared from the forest, roaming in the skies at an insane speed. -Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! And then 5 more followed before another 10 followed behind them. A total of 18 Giant Pelikans in the sky above us, while we just gazed at the sky with our eyes widened. The fear engulfed us so much that we could hear our own heart beat now. -Ssh! Ssh! Ssh! -KREE!! -KIKIKI! -KIKK! And then there were more water goblinsing out of the water, as they surrounded us from all sides. Each of them seemingly much stronger than the water goblins from before. My eyes that observed those goblins for a few moments, briefly looked at the timer as well. And as much obvious it was, I felt like the situation was still far worse than I underestimated before. [24 Hours: 0 Minutes: 0 seconds!] The final day of Tutorial 3 began! Chapter 35: [Hidden Quest!] "We need to run!" Alex shouted as he looked at those iing monsters while Alice observed the surroundings for an escape. Mark looked at me for some hope, while I observed the area for a few seconds before asking, "How long till the quest ends?" "5 minutes," Alice answered immediately and taking out the dual guns from my pocket, I shouted, "Everyone. Get down." Though confused, they all followed my words as soon as they looked at what''s in my hands. And as soon as they got on their knees¡­ -BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Elite Water Goblin!] [+5000 Points!] [+125 GM Points!] [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Elite Water Goblin!] [+5000 Points!] [+125 GM Points!] . . 10 seconds passed as all the goblins vanished from our sight. I used about 100 MP per shot to make sure they don''t get back up, costing me 1700 MP at once. I should reduce the amount of MP by 10 at a time to see how much it really requires to kill them. "This should give us a bit of a break. Let''s wait for 5 minutes before tracing back to the safe zone. Though I would be depending upon you guys for the rest of the journey," I spoke as I looked at them all with their eyes opened up wide. "What the heck was that?!!! Damn Adrian!! Just what have you been doing the past few days man?!!!" Mark broke the silence as he spoke what was on everyone''s mind. I just smiled as I spoke, "Found a hidden dungeon. Got these as the reward along with a skill that allows me to double my firepower for 10 minutes." They were shocked to hear that. The duo with Alex had a tint of jealousy in their eyes before I chuckled and added, "It runs on Mana. Each bullet consumed about 10 MP, so I only have 17 more bullets left before I need to recharge again. On that note, do you guys have any Mana Potions? I think I am gonna need them." Hearing that, the surprised expression of those people were calmed a little as they understood that if it was something like unlimited bullets, it would be too overpowered. And anyone with low mana won''t be able to use it as well. Alex, who caught on a bit about the usage of the gun then thought of something before he asked,"why don''t you give it to Alice, then? She has a huge mana reserve and should be able to use it for a longer time." It was a nice idea. At least based on the information they all had. "It''s bound to me," I spoke as I passed on the guns to Alice, who made a simple nod before passing it back to me. -Rawr! -Rawr! More of the goblins came, making us rmed again. Noticing the situation, I then spoke to Alice and Mark,"you guys help too. Though don''t use too much power since you will be handling most of the monsters on our way back." They nodded, and a rough battle ensued with me taking out most of the goblins, while I pretended to drink Mana potions as I stored them in my inventory. I calcted the amount of Mana required to kill those monsters and it fell somewhere around 5-6 MP. Way less than I started with in the beginning. A normal water goblin required 2 MP per shot by the way. So in a way these were at least 2 to 3 times stronger than normal ones. Though the fact a couple of them were alive even after using 6 MPs, made me wonder if there was something that I was missing here. Perhaps they had some form of defensive equipment as well? Could be possible. ''And the fact that they are still E-Grade,'' I thought as I looked at them before observing the giant pelikans in the sky. Were they D-Grade like those smaller Pelikans, too? The next 5 minutes passed rather slowly as I killed all the Water Goblins present here. "FATHER!!!" Shouted that daughter of the chief, signifying thepletion of the quest. And looking in the direction where she was pointing, we observed a giant. One eyed cyclops pulling a wagon tied with a rope. On both sides, there were two giant pelikans carrying two strange muscr goblins. Unlike the previous goblins, these were red, and had red marking all over their body. Their height was equal to ours, as they stood with those swords in their hands. Behind them was a battalion of at least 20 red goblins, flying on pelikans. And below them were at least 100 red goblins walking with weapons of all kinds. But what was the most eye-catching was the giant goblin, at least 10 meters tall. He was sitting on a giant chair, above a humongous Pelikan. That Peilkan wasparable to those worm monsters in the air. Its size was at least 10 times more than the giant pelikans already present in the sky. [Hidden Quest Triggered!] [Quest: Save the Chief! Difficulty: Insane! Objective: The chief of the lost tribe has been captured by the monsters. Find the den of the monsters and save the chief! Reward: 25,000 Points; +3 Attribute Points; [Random Earth Blessing!]] "RUN!!" Alex shouted while everyone started running away without wasting any breath. Even Mark and Alice and the NPCs began running without wasting any moment. The only thing that could save them from monsters was the safe zone. The rewards weren''t worth it. The efforts weren''t worth it. Even if we try, there was no way we could have saved that Chief. Everyone ran while I stood there looking at the chief in that cage. Though much to my surprise, other than me, there were three more people who stood there with their eyes glued to that chief. They were the daughter, the son inw, and the granddaughter of the chief. "You guys should go as well. I don''t know if you know it or not but the situation is pretty dangerous," I spoke to them, as I saw the others were running without wasting any moment. "What are you going to do?" The daughter asked me with a bit of a hopeless expression. "We won''t go. If this is how we die, it''s fine. We ept it," the man spoke as he sighed in the end. It seems he hase to terms with his life. Though sadly it won''t be today that he will die. "Well. I got a chief to save. You guys should really go¡­ it will be distracting to protect both the chief along with you, you know?" I spoke as I looked at them with their eyes opening up wide. My eyes looked at that man before speaking, "Go. I will return soon." That man gulped before picking up his daughter and holding his wife''s hand. Then, withplexion in their eyes, they began moving towards the safe zone as well. And I took a deep sigh. Before I turned around to look at that army of monstersing in my direction. My eyes narrowed at the GM points I had collected in this small fight before, and then I stretched my arms before taking the first step towards them. Chapter 36: [Goblins and Goblins!] [GM Points: 7350!] ''Well. I hope I can score good enough to upgrade my all my gear to C-Grade,'' I thought as I first aimed at one of the red goblins in the front and then charged my gun with 100 MP. This was enough to kill a smaller pelikan, it should be enough for this one too, right? I thought as I then pressed the trigger¡­ -BOOM!!!! The mana bullet flew at a rapid speed, before deviating from the path a bit. And then it reached the giant pelikan in the front, before piercing one of its wings. -Kreeeeeee!!!! The young pelikan gave a deafening cry before losing its bnce in the air, and slowly falling on the ground. -BOOOM!!!! And then I charged another shot, this time with 500 MP. That shot hit that falling Pelikan at it''s core, before creating a giant hole in it''s stomach. [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Soldier Pelikan!] [+50,000 Points!] [+1250 GM Points!] A few seconds after that pelikan fell on the ground, another crisp message came. [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Demonic Goblin Rider!] [+100,000 Points!] [+2500 GM Points!] I don''t know what killed that red goblin, but I was happy. Not because I got the points, but I was able to gauge the strength of those monsters. They were freaky strong¡­ but another fact that made me narrow my eyes was that I was still dealing with D-Grade monsters. Those goblins paused their halt before they looked in my direction as I observed my next target. Though before I could mark anyone else, I saw about two of the red goblin riders flying towards me at a rapid speed. Taking a deep sigh, I then pointed my guns towards them¡­ -Bang! Bang! The Pelikans were big targets, they were easy to shoot. Hence I wasn''t worried about them as much. [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Soldier Pelikan!] [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Soldier Pelikan!] What I was worried about were the red goblins that jumped from those pelikan and reached about 10 meters away from me. They were ferocious, they looked dangerous, demonic and all the other negative words I could think of. The only thing good about this situation was¡­ [Title: Goblin Hunter! Grade: F Effects: -For each E-Ranked Goblin killed, the user gets +1 Agility for 20 seconds!] Since I was pressed on time, I decided to use all my points on this at once. Whatever I get out of it, I think it will be better than what I already have. And the result was. [Title: Goblin Hunter! Grade: E Effects: -When fighting against goblins, all stats increased by a factor of 1.25! -For each E-Ranked Goblin killed, the user gets +1 Agility for 20 seconds! -For each D-Ranked Goblin Killed, the user gets +5 Agility for 20 seconds!] ''Better than nothing,'' I sighed before I looked at those goblins and [Hunt!] Activated my skills against them, increasing my base physical stats by 50 each. Perhaps they sensed my sudden increase in strength, so they started running towards me. I could see their strange marks shining as well, but I can''t let them activate their special phase, right? We aren''t ying power ranger here anyways. Using 1000MP for each shot -BOOM! BOOOM! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Demonic Goblin Rider!] [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Demonic Goblin Rider!] ''I think I should do something about the noise this gun produces. It won''t be useful for silent killing at all,'' I thought as I looked at the dead bodies of the two monsters. They seemed strong. Just a bad match. My eyes slowly looked at the water goblins jumping up and around me, closing all the paths from where I could escape. Their numbers were twice as high as before when I was with the group. And they were increasing even more as time was passing¡­ Not only that, but three of the giant pelikans were closing in on me again. "Well. Let''s just get over with it," I mumbled as I pointed my gun at those water goblins first. -Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!¡­. ¡­ [In the Safe Zone!] "Told you it was the right decision to get back to here early," Olivia spoke as she looked at the giant pelikans flying above in the sky. Beside her was Samantha, who had her mouth shut with her eyes wide open. Their breaths were heavy, with visible terror in their eyes. All the girls were observing the scene presented in front of them wondering what would have happened to them if they didn''t decide to return to the safe zone a few hours earlier than nned. "How are we supposed to fight them?" Luke, who was previously filled with confidence, now looked scared as he tightened the grip on his weapon. He was sure he could fight one of them¡­ maybe two. But that many¡­ there was no way he could. Whatever n he was making before, now crumbled in the reality presented in front of him. "I wonder if he is okay," Julia looked in the empty street at a distance, as her eyes traced the guy who saved her before. Her heart wanted to see him again, but her brain had already told her that it''s impossible now. Everyone else present there was waiting for the time to end. So they could escape this madness one way or another. This game which they were enjoying before, has be that same nightmare it was the day it began. "Someone ising. I think it''s the group of Mark and Alice. I see the NPCs and Alex there as well," one of the scouts with highetened sight spoke as she looked at the rows of boating in their direction. The distance was still at least 3 kilometers away but with the fast rowing speed along with their increased strength, they should cover the entire distance within the next 20 minutes or so. But will they be able to survive those 20 minutes, was another question that they did not know the answer to. The people around the scout asked a dozen questions, while the scout narrated the scene of the yers and NPCs rowing the boats with their life on the line. Each of them had a horrified look in their eyes, while they raced against time to reach the safe zone. Though surprisingly, none of the flying monsters or goblins attacked them. Instead, the flying monsters flew past them, into the direction from where the group wasing from. It was a fortunate yet strange event that made everyone confused yet thankful. Time passed as minutes turned one by one. Everyone held their breath praying for the group to reach the safe zone, whether they knew the group or not, they just kept praying that their schoolmates should return back to the safe zone safely. And after the 20 minutes that seemed like eternity, the boat entered the safe zone area, creating a joyous event that everyone started celebrating. The group of NPCs and yers reached the building from where they ran up to the rest of the yers, before falling on the floor, finally letting go of all the tension that they had built up. "ALICE!" Julia ran towards the fallen tired girl, who was barely awake after the shock she had witnessed. She had no energy to talk to anyone but still, she barely looked at panicked Julia who asked, "Where is Adrian?!" And only then she realized that one of her party members was missing on their journey back to the safe zone. Chapter 37: [Goblin Hunting!] [23 Hours: 32 minutes: 14 seconds!] -BOOM! Running through the 4th floor hallway of the building, I looked at an iing group of monsters from the stairways and then shot another 7 bullets killing them in an instant as my agility increased by another 7 points. With increased speed, I ran faster, passing the dead bodies of the fallen water goblins, reaching the window at the end of the hallway. Jumping out of the window, I then reached the balcony of the next building. Turning around, I saw the horde of the monsters that wasing behind me. Pointing my guns at them, I then poured 5000 of the MP that I saved in my gloves before¡­ -BOOOM!!! A huge st came out of my guns as it passed through the window first, and then the iing monsters next. My eyes traced the amount of GM points that I have collected in the past 20 minutes or so. [GM Points: 221,500!] Thinking that I had enough, I then focused on the [Item] that I wanted to upgrade the most right now. [Stealth Cloak! Grade: C Effect: Decreases the presence of the user greatly!] Since I was running low on time, I decided to go with a minor change for now. [Stealth Cloak! Grade: C Effect: Removes the presence of the userpletely! All the movements, sound produced by the user will be silenced!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 20,000 GM Points?] Clicking [Yes!]I then parkoured up the building before jumping back to the previous building. The goblins who lost my presence tried looking around everywhere, while I observed the situation, first. Though, my eyes locked in with one of the red goblins flying on a pelikan a hundred meters away, as he narrowed his eyes at me before giving a rather ugly smile. "Shit," I cursed before jumping into the building and running to the stairways. There were some water goblins, but unlike the red goblins, they don''t seem to be able to sense me at all. [Would you like to add [Absolute Silence!] feature to [Twin Guns of Azeroth] for 70,000 GM Points?] [Yes!] That leaves me slightly above 140,000 GM Points, as I wondered how I should spend it. Surely, I can use it to upgrade the guns, but since I was doing fair with my hunt, I decided to focus more on defense than offense. A million points in offense won''t mean shit if I die in a single hit. And with that thought point, I then looked at my armor. [Armour: ck Leather Armor of Grace! Grade: D Durability: 5000/5000 Effects: +5 Constitution!] Doing a bit of this and then a bit of that¡­ [Armor: ck Leather Armor of Grace! Grade: C Durability: 50,000/50,000! Effects: +500 Defence! +20 Constitution! +Reflects 20% of the iing damage as an attack!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 210,000 GM Points?] ''Should I change the effects?'' I gave it a bit of thought before looking at the number of goblins around me. And then I sighed before I pointed my gun at the goblin right beside me as he was searching for ''me''. -Thud! Without any sound produced, the gun sted the head of that goblin before it fell lifeless on the ground. Without wasting any time, I took a deep breath as I observed any signs of that red goblin. ''Let''s hurry up,'' I thought as I then began my hunt again. This time silently. Bodies of goblins kept falling before they knew what happened. The silence seemed deadly, as my speed only increased with each kill, and I kept hurrying up faster as I jumped from this building to the next one. The goal was 210k GM Points. I have 154,000 Points right now. Roughly around 400 water goblins. And if I kill about 50 Goblins in a minute, that''s about 8 minutes. ''10 Minutes give or take,'' I sighed as I kept hunting while hiding from those red goblins. While I fought two of them with [Hunt!], I don''t know if I could do the same without that skill. Especially now that all of them were using their special aura. The first minute passed, as I was able to evade the red goblins. The next minute wasn''t so favorable as one of them sighted me, and I had to make a run before he could reach me. In the fourth minute, I found myself behind one of the red goblin riders. Without wasting time, I shot two shots through the window, one at the red goblin and another at the pelikan he was riding. Each filled with 1000 Mana Points. [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Demonic Red Goblin!] [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Soldier Pelikan!] ''That should save some time,'' I thought as I began running even faster. It was a race against time, as I had to secure a proper location for another shot since some of the red goblins will being here. To avoid them while also keeping them in my sight should be difficult, but not impossible. Within the time that pelikan and the goblin sshed into the water, I ran half the way around them within the building before securing a spot in one of the rooms on the balcony. It wasn''t a clear view but it should be enough to shoot if I time my shot correctly. Waiting for 20 seconds, I saw one of the red goblins appearing in sight and as soon as I got my timing right, I made two more shots. [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Demonic Goblin Rider!] [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Soldier Pelikan!] -Whoosh! And faster than I came, I ran away from there, before resuming my hunt of normal Water Goblins. It was exhausting but drinking another fatigue removal potion, I felt fresh as ever before. The next 5 minutes were easier since all I needed to do was to run in the opposite direction Of the red goblins, while killing the Goblins on my way. Before I knew it, I crossed the goal that I was aiming for. [GM Points: 224,750!] Using 210K immediately on the armor, left me with a measly 14k. But without pausing, I then focused on the next thing that I needed the most in this scenario. Speed. [Boots: ck Leather Boots of Grace! Grade: D Durability: 2000/2000 Effects: +2 Agility!] This one, I wanted to go a bit overboard with. Especially because I needed it the most in fighting against that big goblinter on. [Boots: ck Leather Boots of Grace! Grade: B Durability: 20,000/20,000 Effects: +100 Agility! +[Temporary Haste: In the state of running, the User''s Stamina and Agility would increase by 10%] +[Mana Speed Burst: For every 100 MP Used on the boots, the Agility would rise by 1 for 10 minutes!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 450,000 Points?] ''That''s a lot but¡­'' I looked at those red goblins in the distance. They haven''t found me yet, but they were searching for me. Normally I wouldn''t be doing such a dreadful chore, but since the idea seemed feasible, I decided to give it a try. It was a simple idea. To kill all the goblins before killing the Main Head of those Goblins. ''Surely, all those goblins should be worth at least that much, right?'' I thought before deciding to stretch a little and then restart the hunt once again. Grinding isn''t really fun but I guess the rewards are appealing enough. ¡­ In a huge hallway filled with hundreds of flying white goblins like that of the one which was overseeing the tutorial, there was a single man standing at an elevated tform at one corner of the world hallway. The Administrator of All the Tutorials taking ce on earth. He was a bulky muscr man with a towering height of 5 meters. In essence he was a half-giant and a half-human. And being half-human, he was given the authority of the tutorial including but not limited to Adrian''s. "It seems we are at the end of this time''s tutorial Level 3. Chief Watcher, how is the preparation in the safe zone going on?" The Administrator asked as he looked at information present on the screen in front of him. About 10% of the humans had survived the tutorial up until now, which was much better than what anyone had expected. "Those who have died early on, had already reached the tutorial safe zone. While those who are surviving should reach there without any problem. We also made sure that the Gods don''t interfere with them reaching the safe zone," the chief Watcher, a white goblin with golden horns, spoke with a respectful nod as he corrected his sses. Adrian and the others did not know that even if they were to die, they will still be able to reach a safer ce, just like all the other people who have died have been transferred. The reason for the existence of the tutorial wasn''t to kill the weak and protect the strong, but instead to provide an equal chance for them to grow stronger. The points they were amassing in the tutorial was the currency of the entire safe zone and beyond. The points earned in the tutorial were way more important than the items that the shop was having. You will need points for living, eating, buying weapons, items, etc. Later on, you will even need points for leveling up or buying skill slots, which can only be done after you have finished the tutorial. Though there were other ways of amassing points, none were even close toparable to the number of points that the first three levels of tutorial will provide. But that''s something that Adrian and the others will learn in detailter on in the safe zone. "Good. Moving onto the next point of discussion, are there any yers that are worth looking over? Surely there should be some with Heaven Rank, or even Immortal Rank?" Asked the Administrator with great interest as he screened the entire hallway. And surely there were a couple of white goblins who raised their hands with ecstacy. Among the ones who kept their hand down was a certain goblin, who even though had a person with heaven grade''s talent, he did not raise it. His reasons were only his to be known, but his dirty smile said that he was nning something big. He was the goblin that was overseeing the tutorial that Adrian was watching, and even though he could have told everyone about the existence of an anomaly like Adrian, he decided not to. After all, a promotion he could gain from telling the administrator about Adrian wasn''t even close to worth what he could gain by sticking close to Adrian. "Two Immortal Gifts?! HAHAHAHA! This is truly a miraculous event! Seems like there are going to be huge waves in the Safe zone again," the administratorughed as he looked at a certain white goblin with a smug look. Even Adrian''s tutorial watcher was envious a bit hearing that. But it was not the end¡­ "A Mythical Grade?!!!" Even the administrator was shocked as he heard the report from a small time goblin. With a look of disbelief, he observed the goblin''s report again and again but when he confirmed it, he had a rather serious expression. "Make sure to protect him from those bastard Gods. Or else they will disrupt the power bnce even more than it already is. We need the tutorials to be free from any disturbance rather than a one man show," he added as the others around him nodded. Adrian''s watcher looked at that certain goblin with a glint of envy, but then recalling what Adrian was capable of, he calmed himself down. After all, in the centuries that he has served, he has never seen anyone capable of making changes to the system items itself. Maybe after the tutorial, but within the tutorial? Never. And obviously not even close to the extent of which Adrian showed. "I wonder if my tutorial will also end before the 24 hours are over?" The watcher spoke, making nearby goblins look at him with pity. Though they were all thinking that all the yers in his ce must be getting wiped, he was wondering if Adrian might wipe all the goblins on his own? From what he had seen up until now¡­ it wasn''t certainly impossible. Chapter 38: [To each their own!] [19 Hours: 15 minutes: 14 seconds!] [In the Safe Zone!] "Mark? What are you doing?" Julia asked as she shared a drink with Alice. After telling a bit of what happened on the rooftop, Alice was much morefortable with Julia than before. Though the air of uneasiness still remained between the two of them. "I was just¡­ wondering if I could kill one of them," Mark spoke, making Alice and Julia look at him with a surprised gaze. Though it seemed impossible, neither of them discouraged him. "You will need about¡­ 10,000 Attack power? You think you can take out that much?" Alex asked as he looked at Mark. He had already seen what Mark was capable of, so he didn''t underestimate Mark at all. "Each of my arrows can muster around 1000 Attack Power. But if I were to hit their weak points, I can take it up to at least 2000? Though I was actually thinking of using two arrows instead of one, one for each wing. You know my gift never said that I can''t use more than one arrow?" Mark spoke as he analyzed the situation. With his increased [Intelligence] he was now able to make better decisions without much problem. "Could be? Try and see," Alex spoke, while the other two girls nodded before looking at Mark loading up two arrows. The other girls with Julia, also came closer wondering what Mark was upto. At a distance from them, Luke was also observing them with a deep look on his face. Though he was looking more at Alice than he looked at Mark. Soon, he too shifted his gaze to Mark. -SHING!!!! Like a rocket, the two arrows left Mark''s Silver Bow, aimed at the wings of the giant Pelikan flying in the air. Because of the added effect of the silver bow, Mark didn''t need to put much effort to pull them. Took a few seconds but the arrow reached the circling Pelikan, before hitting its wings. The pelikan gave a weird cry, before it started falling down as it struggled to to fly up. Too bad the arrow was coated with a bit of ice man, freezing those wings, as they pulled the pelikan into the water. And as soon as it reached the water¡­ -Ssh! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Soldier Pelikan!] [+50,000 Points Received!] "WHOAAAA!!!" "SHIT DAMN IT!!!!" "THAT WAS CRAZY!!!"" The boys went crazy as they looked at Mark, while the girls blushed a little. With all of their gazes at Mark, he felt a little embarrassed before he slowly smiled, looking at Samantha, his crush, at a distance. While most of the looks were of happiness and joy, there were a few people who were far more dumbfounded and envious of Mark. It was Luke''s Party. Especially Luke, who was practically ring at Mark. "How do you think he is faring?" Mark spoke as he looked at the huge group of pelikan flying at the edge of the city. Alice and the group knew that Adrian was still alive, or else there was no reason for those monsters to still stay there. "Probably surviving. Well. Since he is attracting most of the monsters, I think I should also start hunting again. I am taking the boat to the edge of the safe zone. Hopefully there should be more goblins there," Alice spoke as she too was motivated now. "We will join too!" "Hey! I want to hunt as well!" "D-Don''t leave me behind!" And soon everyone gained the motivation to hunt once again, as they all began moving towards the edge of the safe zone. ¡­ [At the South Area: Adrian''s Location!] "Can you give me a break?!" Adrianined as he dodged the red goblin''s attack once again. One of the red goblins caught up to him, and jumped off the pelikan. Because he was able to manage to get closer to Adrian, he was now on a constant tail behind him. Adrian had to kill at least dozens of water goblins every 20 seconds, in order to maintain a minimum Agility in order to escape from the red goblin. And as far as fighting against the goblin goes, it wasn''t really the best option, since not only that goblin was a bit stronger than Adrian, he was also much more skilled in wielding a sword than Adrian who had picked a sword like a week ago. The red goblin could also somehow predict the direction of Adrian''s gunshots, dodging it precisely, right before Adrian presses the trigger. It was annoying, leaving Adrian with the only option of running as he hunted the water goblins. But that wasn''t all. There was one more piece of bad news present, which Adrian was only noticing now. ''The number of water goblins are barely 20% of what they were before,'' he calcted as he killed a few more. If previously they all filled the entire hallway, now there were barely 10 of them present there. "Fuck it," Adrian cursed before looking at the number of points he had right now. [GM Points: 310,250!] It wasn''t even close to the goal, but he had to make do with what he had right now. [Boots: ck Leather Boots of Grace! Grade: C Durability: 15,000/15,000 Effects: +70 Agility! +[Temporary Haste: In the state of running, the User''s Stamina and Agility would increase by 5%] +[Mana Speed Burst: For every 200 MP Used on the boots, the Agility would rise by 1 for 10 minutes!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 310,250 Points?] Immediately clicking [Yes!], Adrian turned around as he faced that Demonic Goblin. Pouring 2000 MP into his boots, he then increased his overall Agility above 150. His eyes locked in with that red goblin, before a devilish smile appeared on Adrian''s face. "Dodge this, you fucker!" Adrian shouted before shooting 10 shots with 100 MP each, as he drilled all those shots in that goblin''s body. Even though the goblin was able to see those shots, he wasn''t able to dodge more than two of them. But to Adrian''s surprise, he was still alive after being injured by those shots. "Just die," and Adrian looked down at him before pressing the gun on his head and pouring another 500 MP into it. -BANG! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Demonic Goblin Rider!] [+100,000 Points Received!] [+2500 GM Points!] "Well. Let''s just get over with this," Adrian spoke with a tired expression, before he lifted his body up again and started moving towards the group of monsters in front of him. Though this time, his aim was that giant goblin from before. Along with the Pelikan on which he was riding. ¡­ [Location: ???!] Ady wearing a blue dress bowed against a giant statue, as she kneeled with both her eyes closed. "Yes, I understand. I will bring Lady Alice and her friend here as soon as the tutorial is over," thedy spoke gracefully before the light shining behind the statue dimmed out. The Lady then opened her sapphire blue eyes, observing the area around her. And after a few seconds of silence, a smile bloomed upon the face of thatdy, as she breathed a sigh of relief. "My Queen, your Highness Eva. Is it true that this girl, Lady Alice, is going to be our savior? Even though she is a Heaven''s Grade, they aren''t rare in our kingdom, mydy," one of the girls serving Queen Eva spoke with a hint of doubt on her face. "Maria. You have served me far longer than anyone else, haven''t you? Have you not seen what these sapphire eyes are capable of? I have lived a future where I met her and her friend Luke, where we fought wars together and won many. The only reason we lost in that war was because we realized the great potential hidden within Alice a bit toote. This time, I only want to correct my wrong deeds and not repeat them again," Queen Eva spoke with a solemn look. Her eyes allowed her to live two lives, and one may even call her a returner given how she had memories of the future. "Is that why you asked [Goddess Aqua!] to give her a contract? Even before we or the Goddess met the person in question?" Asked Maria with a little enlightenment. Even though she knew everything, all this was a bit too absurd to be believed in. Though it wasn''t the powers that Maria was judging as she fully believed in them, but the person who was taking the decisions. "I would have shown you what Alice is capable of, if we or anyone else was allowed to watch the tutorials. s, we can only wait for the tutorial to be over and Lady Alice toe into the safe zone," Queen Eva spoke with a slight smile as she looked forward to meeting Alice once again. Chapter 39: [Skill: Hunt(A)] [Gibral (White Goblin)''s POV!] Returning from the Admin''s meeting, I immediately went towards the tutorial''s safe zone. My eyes observed everything around that was happening, and to my surprise, the previously cowering yers were now enthusiastically hunting the filthy water goblins. "Seems like things have taken an unexpected turn," I smiled as I went to the nearest student and observed him skilfully hunting the goblins. Seems like they have improved quite a lotpared to how they were at the start. Though I wasn''t interested in them. Whom I was interested were a bunch of yers that showed more promise than others. And hence, I went to Luke first. Using that Mana Sword, he was able to slice most of the goblins easily. The hunting speed was okay given the water goblins were now considerably less in number. Had it been a ground battle, he could have outshined all the people here. "His arrogance and pride is a bit of a problem though. If he could control that, he has a lot of potential. Plus his gift isn''t half bad," I made a quick note of him, before observing his hunting methods again. ''If he gets some better weapons, he will be much better. Hmmm. I''ll rmend him to a Level 5 Adminter on,'' I thought out before making some more adjustments to my notes. One of the duties of a watcher was to find potential candidates and send them to their respective admins for proper training. The better the candidate''s potential, the higher the level of admin they will be sent to. In return, we watchers will receive promotion points. It was a fair deal. "Next is Alice. Oh! She is with Mark and Alex. This makes things easier," I smiled as I assessed them together. Their synergy was¡­ bad. Even though they did their roles pretty much fine, and were a good party, their gift or to be precise the skills they had, were a bad match up. It was hindering their growth more than it should have aided them. "Well. At least they are performing well," I sighed as I saw them doing well on their own. Their individual powers were far enough to handle the goblins so there wasn''t much need for synergy. The group of girls were supporting them, and honestly, even though weaker, the girl''s synergy was much better than those three. "All right. Alice and Alex to Level 7 Admin. Mark to Level 4. Samantha to Level 3. Julia to 2. Hmmm¡­ the others¡­ 3,2,3,4¡­" I assessed them one by one before my eyes looked at the distance where the monsters were. "That guy should be there too," I thought as I couldn''t help but widen my smile. That guy, with the weakest gift in the entire batch of yers. The one with the ability to manipte all the things around him. [You don''t have the authority to look at the status of the Target!] That was the message I got when I first tried to assess him. I thought he had a special gift that allowed the others to not let anyone peek into him but as I observed him more, I realized how much I have been underestimating him. For me, who can even assess [Immortal Grade], to not be able to see through means he has something beyond. Or there is something entirely special about him. Whatever the case be, he was truly the most special of all the beings I have seen. Even though I can''t see his stats, I can see the stats of items and weapons he uses. And, my god, each time I saw him doing something, the stats of his items and weapons changed drastically. ''Given how much he improved his items, bet he can improve skills too. Perhaps even create them?'' I came to some form of conclusion. Though it was just a theory based on what I have observed up until now. "Let''s see how he is doing," I then clicked my fingers and the surroundings changed. My eyes tried finding him, and it didn''t even take a moment before I saw him. But my eyes widened as I observed the absurd situation in front of me. -Whoosh! He jumped from one roof to another, before running towards the edge within a second. And then jumping on the closest Pelikan, he aimed at the demonic goblin riding it. Two silent bullets killed that red goblin in an instant and another two took out that pelikan, before he jumped at the head of the Next pelikan. Aiming at the head, he shot another 4 bullets, and then jumped to the next building where two more goblins riders wereing towards his direction. Just like that a pair of goblins and pelikans fell into the water, losing their life even before they could resist. I then saw him aiming once again, shooting once again. Two more shots, each at the iing pelikans, while the goblins jumped off beforending at the roof where he was. His eyes seemed a little tired as he took out a fatigue removal potion and drank it, while the red goblins ran towards him at an insane speed. ''He will die!'' I panicked for a moment, before I suddenly saw his speed doubling for a moment. Narrowly dodging the attack, I saw both his guns pressed against the heads of those goblins as he made two more shots. -Thud! Thud! Fell down the lifeless body of those goblins as he stood there, observing the area before his eyes reached the one he was searching for. Standing alone at the top of that building, he looked in the distance ahead. At thest goblin riding the Adult Pelikan about a kilometer away. The Goblin King. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] ''Well, that takes care of all the surrounding goblins,'' I thought with a tired but joyful smile. There were two big reasons for my smile. [Congrattions: You have killed 10,000 Monsters!] [Skill: Hunt has been upgraded (B->A)!] [Skill: Hunt Grade: A Effect: -Mark 5 targets of your choice! When fighting against those targets, All physical stats increase by 100! -Use all the 5 Marks on a single target, for an increase of 250 increase in All Physical stats! -When the user Mark''s a target using all 5 points, the User''s MP and HP will be increased by 1000 each! -When the user Mark''s a target using all 5 points, the User''s MP and HP regeneration increases by 100%! Cooldown: 16 hours!] A near perfect skill for dueling. I think I can go head to head with that guy as well. And the next things that I was happy about was, [GM Points: 176,000!] While I wanted to use it on agility, I decided that the speed that I had now was fine. Plus with the [Hunt!] skill, I don''t need to worry about Agility for this round. Thus, let''s take a few seconds and pour some points on the gun. Though I was thinking about what to write, I already had a general n for what I wanted. And with that, I put down the details before looking at the cost of what I wanted. [Weapon: Twin Guns of Azeroth! Rank: C Description: Allows the user to shoot mana bullets at a rapid speed. These dual guns have the power to pierce even the densest of the defenses! Convertible to various other modes as per the user requires! Status: Bound to Adrian John Redriguez! Attack power: Wisdom x Mana Applied x 5 Effects: -With each shot hit, the user''s chance ofnding a critical hit increases by 5%! -Each shot has a 33% chance to be converted into a random type of elemental mana! Mode: -Rapid Fire Mode: Allows the user to shoot 10 bullets per shot for 30 seconds! Each shot will have its damage reduced by 50%! -Burst Mode: Allows the user to shoot a single shot costing 50% of user''s MP, with each shot having 20 times firepower. Recovery time increased by 5 seconds! -Close Combat Mode: Convert the Gun into twin Knives that cost the same amount of mana as much as the user desires!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 150,000 Points?] The original change was a simple one with an increase of multiplier from 2 to 10. It was a huge increase in firepower, but right now what I wanted more than fire power was utility. Hence, I sacrificed 50% of the power in exchange for utility. I still kept some specific changes like the [Burst Mode], that would help me push the current gun to at least near the original firepower. Though the recovery is still 5 seconds, I don''t think it''s going to be much of a problem given my increased agility. ''From its posture, it sure looked like a strength/defense buffed boss. I just hope he doesn''t turn out to be a speed type,'' I prayed internally before taking onest look at all the things that I had. "All right. Let''s get the boss fight started," I mumbled as I began moving towards that Giant Goblin, still looking at me as if I were a worm. ''Well. If all goes wrong, I still have the [Ring of Resurrection], I suppose?'' I thought before hurrying up towards him. Chapter 40: [V/S The Goblin King!] [You have marked (Gira: The Goblin King) As the target of the hunt with 5 Points!] Feeling the increased stats, I felt my body overwhelmed with power. It was a refreshing feeling, as if I had returned ''home'' once again. Every fiber of my body felt happy. I looked at that goblin king about 500 meters away from me. Standing at the top of that humongous Pelikan. His eyes narrowed at me, his gaze filled with mockery. I was going to cover the entire distance within the next few seconds. Shooting from here will result in wastage of a lot of mana. But before I could do so, I saw that goblin standing up from that throne-like chair. He then took out two small axes that glowed red In color, their handles made up of an ugly rope like material. I saw patterns forming on his body that traveled all the way to the axes, making them shine brighter with each passing moment. The chains attached to the axes grew bright red, the sharp ends of the axes glowed brighter as their size increased. First as big as that goblin''s arm, before enough to reach a little less than half of his body. ''Assuming it functions the same as all the other weapons I have seen before, let''s expect the chains to increase or decrease in length as the mana is adjusted. Same goes for the length of the des,'' I made a note as I saw him jumping up from that pelikan, before hended on one of the buildings about 200 meters ahead of me. -BOOOM!!! A huge crater appeared but the roof did not break. Meanwhile, he began swinging the axes with the chains as walked one step at a time towards me, before he hurled them at me with all his might. -Whoosh! With the increased speed that I had now, I jumped forward. In a direction simr to the goblin but different from the trajectory of those axes. Though that goblin smiled before pulling the chains, such that the trajectory of those axes shifted towards mine again. Landing on the floor of the next building, I immediately did a side flip, barely dodging those axes, before I stood on my feet again. My eyes fixed on that goblin king, I pointed my guns in his direction, before two shots filled with 100 MP each were fired. The shots reached that goblin, hitting them on his face, barely grazing him. "Tch!" I clicked my tongue before narrowed my eyes at him as he looked in my direction with a mocking smile on his face. It was getting on my nerves but I still maintained my calm. If I lose my control, I can lose my life here. ''Well, that didn''t go as nned,'' I thought as I wanted to at least make him bleed a little. I saw him pulling those taxes back, before he started rotating them in circles in the air above him. Perhaps he was ready to make another attack? Probably. It''s not like I was doing anything different. Though this time, I decided for him to attack first, or else I might get trapped in the air while he freely swings his axes at me. That Humongous Pelikan was nowhere to be seen as well. And that Cyclops that had the chief was also gone. I haven''t seen them for quite some time now. -Whoosh! The axes came in my direction again, before I started running as well. Though this time, I timed my jump making sure he won''t be able to trap me in the air. The axes passed me first, and then I jumped with a dash, skipping one of the buildings and reaching the next one, adjacent to where that goblin king was. -BOOOM!!! Though this time, rather than bringing the axes closer to me, he too jumped one building, reaching near me in an instant. ''Fuck!'' I didn''t even have the liberty to panic. Even though my heart beat increased, I focused on the attacking from behind. [Twin Guns: (Mana Guns -> Twin des)] Changing them into des, I then poured 2000 Mana before deflecting those iing axes away from me. [-200 HP!] "Shit!" But still they inflicted heavy damage on me. I looked at that goblin, still looking down at me. My eyes staring deeper into his, I saw him raising his weapon at me again. -Whoosh! -BOOM!!! Dashing from there, I circled around him, barely doding his attack that destroyed the entire roof in front of him, while I wondered what could have happened if I was even momentste. He was strong, skilled, and presumably had an insane defense as well. If I needed to pierce that defense, I needed to get closer to him. Enough to hit him properly, but not too close to be in his reach. ''I need a chance,'' I calmed my breath as I looked at him from the side, standing there without moving an inch. The axes in his hands were once again swirling at an insane speed, while I decided to run faster somehow reaching behind him, at a blindspot from where I would have some chance of getting closer. -BOOOM!!!! And in an instant, without turning back, he threw those axes at me again, while I barely dodged them by a few inches. My eyes deepened as I made the decision to attack in the little time frame where he calls his axes back. Shifting my direction of run, I now dashed towards him, hoping to reach before he could retract those axes. With my parkour skills, I saw the best way to dodge those chains even if he whirled them at me. And using these points to my advantage, I side stepped left, before dashing even faster. I saw him pulling back those axes in an instant. With the mana at work, it didn''t even take a second to retract those axes. It was a bit frustrating¡­ but it was still fine. Even if he can call his back weapon, his face is still open now. [Twin Guns: (Twin de -> Burst Mode)!] Pointing that gun on his face, I pulled the trigger as fast as I could. -BOOOM!!! It wasn''t the gun that made the sound, but the bursting of his arm that he ced between the trajectory of the gun and his face. One of his arms fell off, while his dark blood was gushing out like a fountain, coloring my face all ck. Though rather than being in pain, he stood there. His fiery eyes kept gazing at me, while he tightly held the battle ax in his other hand. "One down. One more to go," I mumbled with a smile but before I could even move the humongous pelikan appeared out of nowhere, picking up the goblin by his other arm and carrying him away from me. "No you don''t!" I pointed that gun at him again but it didn''t work. I forgot. The recovery time was still there. Narrow my eyes at him as I got myself in a defensive stance. I wondered if there was a new attack pattern from the boss monster but to my surprise, I saw a ck portal opening in the sky from where both the goblin and the pelikan escaped. "?" For a few seconds, I just stayed there without making any movements. Was this all? Or was there more to it? I gave it a few more seconds before deciding that I shouldn''t waste time and look for that chief. Maybe my answersy there? Though before I could do that. "You really drove away the Goblin King, huh? How unfortunate," came up another goblin, the white one who was watching us from the very beginning. And then looking deeper into my eyes he asked,"yer Adrian. Would you like to make a deal with me?" Chapter 41: [Deal!] "Deal?" I asked as I looked at him. With a thoughtful expression, he rubbed his chin before he looked at that open portal from where that goblin king escaped. His eyes closed for a few seconds before he turned at me and spoke, "Go save that chief. Go with him to the safe zone first. I will tell you about the deal after you do that." I observed him for a few seconds before I nodded. I was already going to do that so there wasn''t any change of ns. Though it did intrigue me to what kind of deal he was talking about. With the help of [Cartography!] It was easy to find out where that NPC was. About a kilometer away from me, in one of the buildings in that direction. Though I didn''t see that giant cyclops there. Given the size, he should be easily visible yet he wasn''t¡­ I wonder what happened. "Well. Only one way to find out," I spoke out as I then jumped towards that direction. With my increased stats added on my parkour skills, it was pretty smooth to reach that building. Jumping from one to another, I reached there within a few minutes, before I reached the rooftop. "?!!!" But something rather surprising appeared in front of me. The chief, which was previously sleeping, was now sitting in a meditating position as the pieces of the body of the cyclops were present all around the roof. The green blood of that cyclops, added with that serene meditating chief gave out a rather contradicting portrait in front of me. Though rather than reaching him immediately, I took a few minutes to look at that chief while I stood there. He was bulky and muscr with a defined body shape. Each of his muscles made me wonder if he was really old as I previously imagined to be. White beard and white hairs, different from that of his daughter. He wore peasant clothes which were torn from multiple ces giving it a rag-like appearance. Though the thing that attracted me the most was that golden hue that was floating around him. Too bad, before I could analyze it, that guy opened his eyes and began standing up. "I see that you have pushed back that beast. Though I doubt we have much time before he brings more reinforcement. We should hurry up," he spoke As he stood up. Taking one step at a time, he reached closer to me and added, "You must have a lot of questions. But now is not the time. Let''s go to the safe zone." I looked at the serious expression, before my eyes went to the white goblin flying not too far from me. He too was silent, as he simply observed the entire scene without any change in his expression. I took a deep breath before exhaling it all out. And then I nodded at the [Chief] before speaking,"sure." And then without wasting any time, both of us moved back towards the safe zone. As we ran back, I kept sneaking nces at the chief and then at the goblin. And for some reason, I felt like something was amiss here. I did not know what it was, but I couldn''t shake it off. This strange feeling¡­ ''Hopefully, it''s something I can handle,'' I thought as I kept running. [You havepleted the Quest: Save the Chief!] [+25,000 Points!] [+[Earth Blessing: Surface Dweller!]] [+3 Free Attribute Points!] It took time, but we reached back to the safe zone where the rest of the yers were. Perhaps because I had activated my [Stealth] to maximum using the cloak, nobody noticed me. And I was going to continue it like that. I believed that the chief would immediately run towards the NPCs, but instead he just stood at the edge of the wall of the high school. He then looked at me before speaking, "Let''s just get over this." His attitude was¡­ a bit rude. "Aren''t you going to even give him a chance, Gideon?" And surprisingly, the voice came from someone that I never expected. It was the white goblin that watched over the entire tutorial. "Voltaire. Until when are you going to let that foolish dream of yours take control of you? Last time I did what you said and I almost lost my life. I am not going to trust you again with anything. You already know that," Gideon, the chief of the lost tribe, spoke as he observed me before turning back to that white Goblin. "Didn''t you say that only the yers can see you?" I asked a bit confused, while the goblin sighed before speaking, "Well. He is an exception. He is real after all." "Real?" I was a bit intrigued. My eyes looked at the yers doing their own thing at a distance. Seems like they haven''t found our presence, yet. I guess I am not the only one hiding myself here? "Yeah. On that note. Adrian, let me ask this again, would you like to make a deal with me?" The white Goblin spoke as he looked at me, while the [Chief] observed Voltaire with a narrowed gaze before giving a deep sigh. "Again. What kind of deal?" I asked, before he spoke out, "An exchange of information of sorts. We will tell you the history of everything that you are looking at here. Including the secrets and stuff about the tutorial and the things beyond that. Even though you only have 18 hours, you should be able to get a lot out of it." I pondered about it for a moment. While it wasn''t a bad deal given there were many questions that I wanted to ask, I still wondered what they wanted in return. "And what do you need from me in exchange?" I asked as I looked at him. "Just answer three of our questions," he raised one his three fingers before asking the questions one by one, "Your powers. What are they capable of? Can they revive the dead or bring back the dead? What can you do or what you can''t do? You don''t need to describe them in detail. Just give us a rough idea of your power." He then raised another of his fingers. "Your goals. If I tell you that there are gods that would give you everything, will you go by their side? If I tell you that you can''t go with them in exchange for the intel we give you, will you give up the chance for infinite treasures? Do you like omnipotence? Or rule an entire kingdom? If I tell you that you can''t destroy a certain nation in exchange for the intel we give you, will you do it?" He then raised thest of his fingers. "Your race orientation. If I tell you that there are more races out there, will you hate them based on their color, or love them for their beauty? If I tell you not to judge a certain race no matter what you hear, will you do it?" He then looked at Gideon before tuning back at me as he sighed and then spoke, "The three questions will be rted to more or less what I just told you. Though questions, they are also binding and uses in a way, preventing you from doing certain things." Yeah, they weren''t questions but straight up restrictions. Though will it be worth following his words? I mean I can probably remove the restrictions using my GM pointster on¡­ the question is¡­ is it worth it? I pondered over his words for a few seconds before speaking, "Well. Then let''s not make that deal. You are better off making that kind of deal with a hero or something. While I may be kind, I don''t like to put my nose where it doesn''t belong. As for the tutorial, I have already reaped enough rewards. Anymore would be too greedy." There were many things that I wanted to know about this world. This tutorial and stuff. But not at the cost of any form of restrictions. And looking at the way that goblin, Voltaire, described those questions, I can smell a huge quest filled with troubles and ventures. Not something I am fond of. I just want to live peacefully. He sighed as if he kind of expected that answer from me. Though he continued, "I more or less expected that from you. On that note, may I ask you something?" Observing his solemn face, I nodded. "If I need help from you in the future. Is there anything that I can do that would make you help me?" He asked with a slight hopeful expression, to which I pondered. "Not really. I am someone who works hard so that he can rx for a longer time, you know? Smart work and stuff," I answered with all honesty. Though rather than being sad, that goblin made a rather wide ugly smile as he spoke, "Then I would inconvenience you the moment the circle of my problemses into the circle of your problems." I didn''t like the tone of his voice or the words he spoke, but before I could even retort he clicked his fingers. [The Tutorial Phase 1 Has ended! Please escape through the portal before the Apocalypse descends!] [Time Remaining for the End of the World: 4 mins: 59 seconds!] A huge portal opened up at the roof of the Milton high school, rming everyone present there. That goblin kept smiling at me as he spoke, "Adrian John Rodriguez. See you again." And then he pushed me into that portal before I could even do anything. ¡­ [Voltaire''s POV!] "Why go so far for a kid that you have just met? He couldn''t even kill a C-Grade Goblin King unlike the previous guy you bet on," Gideon asked as he did not understand why would I go so far for Adrian. "Well. There is a difference between the two of them," I looked at Gideon who was observing me as if I had finally gone mad. Though I continued without caring much about what he thought, "First is the power difference. That kid was strong from the beginning, dominating the entire tutorial with his powers-" "And yet you lost the golden chance of multiple promotions in exchange for a false hope that he can someday save your race from the cruel system," Gideon scoffed as he cut me in between. ring him for a moment, I then shook my head before continuing, "However Adrian wasn''t like that. Would you believe me that Adrian struggled with an E-Grade Goblin, reaching almost on the verge of death?" Gideon narrowed his eyes but did not speak. Though the slight look of disbelief was still visible from the corner of his eyes. "Seconds was the difference between the [Gifts]. Back then, I couldn''t see through that guy either, so I used a special artifact that cost me 100 million points. That is how I figured out that he had a [Mythical Grade] gift," I spoke before I smiled as I observed his face and asked, "Can you guess the grade of Adrian''s gift?" "Since he defeated the goblin king then¡­Mythical? Or perhap Immortal?" Curious he asked but I chuckled as I answered the absurd answer that I got this time, "Below Mortal." Chapter 42: [End of the World!] [Luke''s POV!] The system message and that timer that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. And that giant portal that led to the exit of this tutorial. "What''s going on?" "What''s this? The tutorial is over?" A bunch of my ssmates began discussing the message and their next move, while my eyes were still looking at the giant monsters in the air. There were still a dozen questions in my mind which only increased as the portal appeared. ''Something is odd about this,'' I thought but I couldn''t pinpoint it. It was like an itch that I couldn''t scratch. I must find out what exactly happened. "What do you mean ''Below Mortal''? That is impossible! There is no way that is possible!" And then I heard the voice of a strange NPC at the edge of the building. He was shouting at that white goblin, who was showing his ugly smile just like always. To hear them properly, I moved a few steps closer to them. Not too much to make them notice but enough to make out the topic of conversation. "That is why, I decided to bet. Plus when things will be revealed to him in the Safe Area, he will understand my wordspletely then. And during the 4th tutorial when we meet again, he will surelye back to me," that goblin told the NPC. They seem to be talking about someone. "Even if what you are saying is true¡­ you are ying with fire," the NPC warned the goblin. The goblin''s expression turned a bit serious as he spoke, "It''s fine. Even if he is a fire, I would rather he burn the world." I wanted to listen more, but the ground began shaking, making it difficult to keep standing on our feet. Though my eyes were more focused on the monsters in the sky, that were now slowly descending towards the ground. Not just them, but about a dozen more behind them, and more beyond them. The never ending horde of those flying worm monsters covered the entire sky, turning the already dim red light, darker than ever. "What are you guys doing? Get away before you start losing your stats," that goblin scoffed as he looked at the rest of us. Half of us had already left, while the other half was terrified looking at those monsters. ''Stats?'' His words made me confused but then looking at my system, I noticed something that I should have noticed a few seconds ago. [You are in the presence of an Entity Eater: World Worm! Your stats will randomly be eaten by 1 every second!] My eyes widened in shock as I realized the meaning of those words. That fucking goblin¡­ I looked in his eyes, that seemed to be mocking us, before I cursed under my breath and began running towards the portal. I wanted to hear more about the man they were talking about. But if I were to stay here any longer, I might lose more than I could bargain for. Everyone else on the roof was also running as fast as they could, and within a few seconds, we crossed the portal that should take us to the next level of the tutorial. [You havepleted Tutorial Level 3!] [10,000 Points will be deducted!] [Wee to the Safe Zone!] [Your stay time here is: 47 hours: 59 minutes: 57 seconds!] ¡­ "Well. That''s thest of them," Gideon spoke as he sighed observing the breaking world in front of him. As one of the three entities that are indestructible, it was his fate to witness the end of the world. "How much does this one make? 11,000?" Voltaire asked as he observed the end of the world beside Gideon. Though Gideon corrected him,"11,231." That was the number of times they had witnessed the Apocalypse. Each time a different, each time a different universe. It was their fate as the ve of the system to guide the dwellers to their respective ces. For eternity. It was a cruel fate bestowed upon them by the world. Nobody was happy with this, but nobody could do anything against the rules set by the world. Not even Gods who try to partially control what''s already existing. Many hope to break free their chains like Voltaire. To break free from this ved life, hoping to live a life that they deserve rather than to just monitor the destruction of the world. For that, they would even take the slightest of hope possible, to even go as far as putting their life on the line. "Do you think this one will work? It will work, right? I¡­ am a little tired," Gideon asked with some hope in his words. He too was tired of seeing his deceased family dying over and over again just for the sake of scenarios. Just for some quest points. He had gone numb to the point where the death of his daughter and wife no longer affected him. It was a fate that he despised for far too long. He didn''t want to continue either¡­ but he didn''t know how to end this. Even if he died, he would simplye back to life in the next tutorial. Perhaps one of the reasons why he was still friends with this hopeful goblin was because of how Voltaire never gave up trying to break free from his shackles. An impossible dream to say the least. "It will work this time. Trust me. I am 100% sure," that goblin smiled brightly as he saw the destruction of the world almostpleted. "Didn''t you say thisst time as well?" Though Gideon just sighed before giving a deep look at the end of the world in front of him. ''Well. At least he is still capable of dreaming.'' Was thest thought of Gideon before the world''s destruction consumed him once again. Chapter 43: [Safe Zone!] [Adrian''s POV!] [Congrattions onpleting the Tutorial Level 3!] A single message before the entire world turned Dark. And then as the time stopped, I saw the white Game Master''s screen appearing in front of me again. "Jeez! Why do you have to be so much hurried," Iined a little regarding how Voltaire just threw me in here. Though since there was little point inining, I decided to look at the messages for now. [Your Contractee (Adrian John Rodriguez) haspleted the following Quests! -Point Collection! -Help! -Help Twice! -Kill! -Kill Hard! -Kill them All! -Save the Chief (Hidden)! -Kill the doppelganger (Hidden)! -The one who sets his own Path!] [You have received +200,000 GM Points!] [Minor Betting: Bet on the yer with maximum [Safe Time]: 300 Points on (Adrian John Rodriguez)!] [Bet Won: +6000 GM Points] [Growth Betting: Bet on the yer with most Growth: 300 GM Points on (Adrian John Rodriguez)!] [Bet won: +15000 GM Points] [Your Contractee (Adrian John Rodriguez) haspleted the third Level of Tutorial: +10,000 GM Points!] [Game Master''s ID: Adrian John Rodriguez/??? Username: Unnamed Authority Level: 2 (Upgrade Cost: 10000 GM) Current GM Points: 245,720] [The following Privilege has been unlocked!] [Privilege 1: The Game Master can see All the Quests Present on the current Level!] [Privilege 2: The Game Master can bet on the yers present in the current Level!] [Privilege 3: Allows the GameMaster to Adjust the rules of the Games Equivalent to GM Points spent!] [Privilege 4: Allows the GameMaster to [Contract] a yer and give [Blessing!] [Skill!] [Title!] [Coins!] [Curses!] [Punishment!] ] [Privilege 5: Allows the GM to view the normal quests of the next Event!] [Privilege 6: Allows the GM to Add a Sub-Quest in the scenario(Not applicable in the Tutorial)!] Because all the quests werepiled in one, I got all the rewards at once. To be fair, I kind of even forgot about the betting ones, but I was still d that I had the most time with the [Safe Zone!], especially because of how many food items I put there on the first two days. In any case, it was time to up my Authority Level as well. Something that I had been dying for quiet long. [Authority Level: 2 -> 4!] Though unlikest time, I didn''t get two privileges per level but rather an item and a skill. [You have received the Skill: Debug!] [You have received the Game Master''s Key!] [Skill: Debug! Grade: Primordial! Effects: Allows the user to remove any or all types of irregrities or bugs present within the system! The Game Master can create a firewall, anti-virus, trojan or other type of defense formation to deal with any threats! The user can also fix any form of breach that has ured to the system!] [Item: Game Master''s Key! Grade: Primordial! Status: Bound to Adrian John Rodriguez! Effects: Once every 24 Hours, the Game master can unlock any locked item/door!] "That seems rather useful," I thought as I understood that the key could be a really useful item given the right time and the right situation. As for the skill, it was still difficult to determine how much I am going to use it. Perhaps I should test itter? I wanted to increase the Authority Level once more but the cost once again increased by 10, reaching in 10 digit number. [Game Master''s ID: Adrian John Rodriguez/??? Username: Unnamed Authority Level: 4 (Upgrade Cost: 1,000,000 GM) Current GM Points: 135,720] To my surprise, there were no more messages. Neither regarding the next quest, nor any bettings. I pondered about it for a moment before looking through the entire Game Master System once again. But since I didn''t find anything more, I decided to press [Continue!]. And as soon as I did that, a dozen messages appeared on the blue system screen. [You havepleted the quest: Points Collection!] [+2 Free Attribute Points Received!] [+Random Box Received!] [+Safe Box Received!] [You havepleted the Hidden Quest: The one who sets his own path!] [+10 Free Attribute Points!] [+50,000 Points!] [+Skill Upgrade Coupon!] [+Artifact: Amulet of Pathseeker!] [Wee to the Safe Zone!] [Time left till the next tutorial: 47 Hours: 59 minutes: 50 seconds!] When my vision came to be, I found myself at the center of a market area. Standing just beside the fountain, I looked up at the scorching sun and the bright blue sky, and then at the people around me. ''I guess, this is the safe zone?'' I thought as I saw the carefree look on everyone''s face as they continued their daily chore. I stood there with my [Stealth] on, invisible from the eyes of all the people here, wondering what I should do next. Collecting information always takes priority, but this time, I should sort out the system first. Given all the rewards and stuff, it wouldn''t be a good idea to not take a look at all the things that I received this time. Especially that amulet and those gift boxes. With that thought, I was about to look through the system window, but before I could even do so, a familiar voice came from a distance, catching my attention at once. "Hey! What do you mean these costs 200 Points? They are barely 100! What are you? A thief?!" A blonde haired girl shouted as she haggled the price of some apples on the stall. She was Emily, my co-worker from the part time job that I used to do before the apocalypse descended. Chapter 44: [Those who failed the Tutorial!] "Are you really out of your mind? I ain''t paying even a single point above 120. Reduce the price or I will tell everyone how much of a fraudster you are," Emily had already reduced the price from 200 to 150. And looking at how helpless that shopkeeper was, it seems like he would let go at around 130s or something. And as I thought, within the next few seconds he gave out the final price of 135 points, at which Emily happily bought those apples. With a smile on her face, she passed on the points before speaking, "Pleasure doing business with you!" Then, turning around she was about to continue with her shopping, but before she could even take a single step, her eyes reached mine. And that smile that was already beautiful, bloomed even more than before. "Adrian!!!" She shouted as she ran towards me and hugged me tightly. Only after a few seconds, she let go before holding me by my shoulders as she asked, "Did you just arrive here?!" "Yeah. Been a minute. Care to help me out?" I told her as I looked around at the safe zone. The people around looked at me with slight jealousy before continuing with their own work. As for Emily, "Ah! A minute? That means that you survived till thest day, huh?" She spoke with a sad tone before cheering up, "Don''t worry. I''ll help you out, okay? Consider it as payback for all the time you have helped me during the part-time." Though before I could speak anything more, I saw more and more people appearing near the fountain. Mark, Alice, Luke and the others as well. Julia and her group was also present there. And as much as expected, everyone was as confused as I was before. "So many people at once? Did the entire group get wiped out or something?" Emily mumbled wondering about the appearance of so many people at once. Though I corrected her, "The tutorial waspleted early. I don''t know what happened but the tutorial was over before the required time. A portal was opened up that sent us here." Hearing my words, Emily was surprised for a moment before she suddenly asked, "Wait! So you did not die?" I shook my head before adding," let''s first get out of here. Is there any ce we can talk without being disturbed?" She was still surprised with the sudden news, but hearing my voice she turned serious before speaking,"yeah. Follow me." And with that, I left the yers arriving in the safe zone behind, following Emily that took me through a couple of blind alley before we reached a shabby area filled with dozens of tents. It seemed more of a refugee area where only the poorest could stay. My eyes looked at all the people staying there with each thinner than the other. Some of the people were lying on the road barely able to keep themselves alive. They looked so fragile, as if they would break even with the slightest touch. Passing various tents, we soon reached arger tent where about 10 people were staying. Entering the tent we moved to the far end corner where a couple was making some ornaments. "Mom. Dad. I''ve bought some fruits at a lower price. This should help us be alive for today. I''ll be going to hunt now," she spoke as she bowed them while they had their eyes on the ground. Apparent frustration was visible on their faces but they withheld that as I and Emily walked out of the tent. "When the game started everyone panicked. Nobody wanted to die but no one knew how to survive either," Emily began speaking while I just kept listening. She told me how her family died early in the game without earning any points, and were now worse than beggars in this new world. They had to literally beg for food sometimes to barely live another day. Even their gifts weren''t useful for them to turn the situation for themselves. As for Emily she survived for 3 days earning about 70k points, out of which she saved 30k while spending the rest on the [Shop] items. After her cruel death by her own teammates, she entered into the safe zone costing her another 10,000, leaving her with barely 20k points. When she first arrived here, she had a hard time moving around the safe zone, collecting information and such. But by the next day she put a few things together. Everyone that has died in the tutorial is here. Nobody had truly died there. Just that they don''t have the authority to continue the tutorial so their chances of turning their life around are over. Tutorial was the golden trove to earn millions of points. A chance that almost 90% of the people who die early, regret. Exceptions are those with extraordinary [Gift] but bad luck. "The most important thing here is points. You need points to live. Points to eat. Points to buy weapons. Everything here costs points," Emily spoke as we reached a nearby park and sat there. It was a peaceful area hiding the dark reality of the new world we were in. "So how do those people who have died earn points?" I asked curiously to which she answered, "Menial Jobs provided by the NPCs. There are some dangerous jobs that require proficiency, and some jobs that are as simple as cleaning the streets. Though you need to have a suitable [Gift] for the job that you take. Otherwise the NPCs won''t even bother talking with you." I asked a few more questions, to which she answered honestly before I made a few note points. "Thanks Emily. This helped me save quite a bit of time," I smiled at her to which she blushed a little. Then I pondered something before I spoke, "Hang on. I think I might have something that might help you out." Searching through the system, I reached the [Safe Box!] that I got reward forpleting the tutorial quest. [Item: Safe Box Grade: F Description: On opening, gives out 5 Passes that allows the user to buy 5 items worth a max of 5000 Points each.] Though before giving it to Emily, I changed a bit of description. [Item: Safe Box! Grade: E Description: On opening, gives out 2 passes that allows the user to buy 2 skills worth 100,000 Points each!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 1200 GM Points?] I clicked [Yes!] before giving it to her. "HUH?!! Adrian! This is too much! I can''t take it!" Though she rejected it immediately as she checked the description. Her eyes widened up as she read the description over and over. "Don''t worry. This isn''t really useful to me at all. And you know me right? If I have something that is really worth to me, I would never let it go?" I spoke, making her observe me as if I were an Angel. "But still. I don''t think I can-" She was still going to reject it but I patted her head, making her pause. "It''s all right. It would keep me happy knowing that you are having a bit less burden in your life," I spoke, making her blush a little. "Let''s meet again, Emily. Thanks again for sharing that information," I spoke as I put on my cloak again, erasing my presencepletely. Watching me vanish from her front, her eyes widened up as she tried to capture the air in front of her. Though she stopped in mid air, as she slowly put down her hand and tightly held that safe box that I just gave her. "Thank you. Thank you Adrian," a couple of tears escaped her eyes as she sat on the same bench for a few more seconds. ''I wish I could have done more but¡­ I shouldn''t get too involved,'' I thought with a sigh as I walked away from there. She was a smart girl. She should be able to turn her situation around with the gift that I gave her. ''Let''s first map out the ce. I wonder if there are ces where I can buy some skills as well,'' I thought as I kept wondering what I should do next. There were many things that I could do, from going back to Mark and Alice to finding my old friends from my backalley days. Though as always, I needed information first. And with that I finalized on three main goals for now. To find as much information as I could. To find a skill that would help me get as much information as I could. To find people that would help me gather as much information as possible. ''They should be fast and efficient as well,'' I thought as I began shifting my thinking in the direction of my goals. [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! Title: [Goblin Hunter] ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Blessings: Blessing of Gaia(S) Surface Dweller(E) Gift: [Cartography (Lower Mortal Grade-5)] Body-Talent: [Mortal!] Health: 400/400 Mana: 5250/5250 Attributes: Strength: 7.7 ( +5.0) Agility: 9.2 (+70.0) Constitution: 5.0 + (35.0) Stamina: 8.0 ( +5.0) Intelligence: 325.0 Wisdom: 26.0. (+20) Charm: 3.4 Free Attribute Points: 15 Points: 88,664,871! Skills: Active: [Hunt!] [Blood Gaze!] [Sleep!] [Aura!] Passive: [Perception!] [Mana Regeneration!][Mana Sense!] [Professional Cooking!] [Absolute Nullification!] Items: Stealth Cloak(C) ck Leather Armour of Grace(C) ck Leather Boots of Grace(C) ck Leather Gloves of Grace(D) Unloved Ring of Grace(D) Unloved Ne of Grace(D) Twin Guns of Azeroth(C) Amulet of Pathseeker(?) Chapter 45: [The Streets of Azkaban!] [Skill Upgrade Coupon Grade: A Effects: Allows the user to upgrade a skill by one upgrade up to a maximum of A-Grade!] Using the GM Points, I tried changing the grade of the coupon to S but the cost was in millions so I had to let it go. Though, looking at the costs, I was beginning to see a pattern of the cost of GM based on the Grades of various items. ''Seems like I need to find better sources of GM points if I want to improve the grades of all my items to Grade A and above,'' I calcted a few things before putting it to the back of my mind. "So, which skill should we upgrade? The best option would be [Perception!], but I think I should wait until I find a shop that sells B-Grade Skills," I mumbled as I walked up the streets of the safe city. One thing that I realized about the safe zone was that it was in circles. At the center of the city, there lived the richest of the society, with decreasing standard of living as we move towards the periphery, with the poorest of people living near the edge of the safe zone. From what Emily told me, beyond the border of the safe zone, there was the forest zone that had many monsters in there. The weakest monster being D-Grade with the strongest as much as S-Grade ones. And beyond the forest lies a few more cities simr to safe city except yers can be killed there. It was a typical kingdom made by the NPCs and the yers to establish trade as that city was situated near the ocean. Supposedly, only the strongest of the yers stayed there. "Somebody Help!!" A cry came from one of the alleys, catching my attention. Even though the voice was loud enough, people didn''t pay attention to it and kept walking on their own. Perhaps they were used to it? Kinda cruel, not gonna lie. "Please! Anyone! Someone somebody! Anybody!" Shouted the same person again, this time voice being clearer than before. A feminine voice of a woman who should be in her early 20s. Walking in the alley, I saw two burly men cornering a white haired girl. She had skin white as snow that matched with the white dress that she was wearing. Her eyes were deep red, that red at those men that had her cornered. "Seems like it''s our lucky day! A Half Vampire! How much do you think she would sell for?" Those men spoke as they looked at that girl. Though before they could even take a single step someone interrupted them. "Excuse me gentlemen. But can you let thatdy go away? It''s not proper etiquette, you know?" A blonde guy with a tall build, appeared out of nowhere. His eyes with a red simr to that of that girl, he looked at those thugs for a brief moment before observing that girl again. "Huh? Who are you? Get los-" though before they could even take a single step, that man spoke out, "[Sleep!]" -Thud! -Thud! And the two guys ended up in a deep sleep. That blonde guy then looked at that girl with a smile as he continued, "Didn''t I ask you to take your business to the outskirts? What are you doing here in the mid zone, Adide?" That girl, who was previously raging and terrified, changed her manner immediately as her eyes were now narrowed at that man. She then stood up and brushed her dress a little before speaking, "There were new yers who just arrived. I was just trying my luck to see if I can suck some stats off them. How did you even find me? I just began, you know?" Her eyes were now much more calmed than before, the previous weak girl demeanor waspletely gone now. One can even see a glint of a predator in her eyes. "Was just passing by. A meeting of sorts with the Administrator. Though, I don''t think you failed to catch any of the yers," he spoke as he turned towards me. Even though I was wearing the stealth cloak, he was able to see me. Though it didn''t bother me at all. ''Expected as much,'' I thought as I undid my cloak, surprising the girl, Adide, while that blonde guy just smiled. "Guess. I need better stealth equipments," I spoke out as I looked at my cloak before turning to that blonde guy and spoke, "The name is Crowley. Crow for short." For the time being, it''s better to go with an alias than with my real name. Honestly it doesn''t mean much, but from my experience in the back alley days, it is always a good thing to keep your identity hidden until it''s really necessary to show it. "It''s Annikan here. You don''t seem to be from the previous batches, are you one of the yers from the current batch?" he asked and I nodded before speaking," I was traveling around to find some skill shops as well as finding information about the city. You don''t happen to know about it, do you?" His smile widened at my answer. "I do. I was on my way to one of the more famous skill shops. Though the prices would be on the high end¡­ is that all right?" He asked without breaking the character as I nodded with a smile of the same intensity, "That would be lovely." "Hey Annikan. You know this guy?" Adide asked as she looked at me, while Annikan shook his head before speaking,"nope. I just met him." "You did?" Not believing, she looked at me again, before turning back at Annikan again. Though her expression turned neutral again before she spoke, "Well. If you both are going to ir''s Skill Shop, I will join you as well. There was something I wanted from there." Not having any problem, Annikan nodded before turning to me as he spoke," so Crow. Tell me, when did you appear in the safe zone? Did you die or youpleted the tutorial like the others?" "Huh? The tutorial waspleted? I thought there were still 20 hours or something," Adida spoke with a hint of surprise in her voice. "It should be. Though some of the zones finished early. Someone found the second exit early on. I think there were 7 such groups this time," Annikan exined, making Adida shocked a bit before she turned to me. Though I just smiled as I answered, "Well. In our case, one of the yers got a contract, and another two, Mark and Alex got a rather convenient [Gift]. There was also a group of girls with good synergy. I just happened to ride the bandwagon." As we began walking towards the direction where Annikan was taking us, I continued speaking, "From what I heard, the final battle was with the yers and one of the NPCs, the chief. They all fought together against the goblin king and defeated him. There was a special artifact that allowed them to open a portal or something that led to the premature ending of the tutorial." Adida, listening to my conversation, made a surprised but understanding face. Though she was shocked to hear that I was one of the people who finished their tutorial early, when she got to know that I was just a bit lucky, she calmed down before she spoke, "Seems like there are quite a few monsters this time around as well. Though they are all only humans, so I doubt they have any racial advantage." Annikan looked at me with a deep look before he smiled and spoke," you were lucky, huh? Fascinating," before he turned quiet for a few seconds. And then he asked, "So Crow. How are you finding this city? Much to your liking?" "I haven''t even looked at it properly. Too busy finding a skill shop. Though it seemed nice on the first look. Pretty clean if you ask me," I spoke as I briefed them about what I found on my first observation. "d to hear that. Well, Azkaban is indeed the central city of the first floor. It would be bad if it gets dirty. Not good for the image, you know?" He raised a finger as he told me, before he began exining a bit about why it''s important that the city is clean. Adide grumbled as she heard his words, closing her ears in agony, while I just chuckled at her actions. She smiled back at me, before we started talking about mundane topics about the famous restaurants and stuff. And before we knew it, we reached the shop that the duo was talking about. The most famous skill shop in the entire city, selling skills from C-Grade to SS-Grades. Fixed Price. Non-Negotiable. It was avish shop, that size equal to a small shoppingplex. From outside, it felt like a premium luxury shop, with the huge entrance gate guarded by two 6- metered-giant stone golems carrying a giant spear twice their size in their hands. And as we entered the shop, I felt like I entered another dimension, where everything was shining. Though as the light settled, I saw the counters and various shoppartments, each with their own gradings. The shoppartments were first divided between grades, and then between utility, with eachpartment having at least 3 staff members showing the guests skill cards of their requirements. My eyes narrowed at those staff members as I found them all to be females with long ears. Presumably elves? They were wearing ck coloured tight dresses that seemed to be professional with a hint of lewdness in them. The atmosphere itself was rather mellow, with the fresh aroma of strange refreshing scent. Add the cool rxing atmosphere to it, and it was a perfect ce that rxes your senses. One of those ces where you let go of stress and shop freely, I guess? There were those back on my as well. "Like it?" Annikan asked with a slight smile before I answered," seems like a ce that would rob you of your money," I spoke as I raised both my hands in a bit of defeat before putting them down as I began walking towards the [B-Grade] skill section. Hopefully the price would be within my buying range. Chapter 46: [Popularity!] [Skill: Illusion Grade: B Effect: Create a near perfect Illusion based on your Wisdom Stat and extent of creation! Restrictions: -The Illusion is directly dependent upon the creation capabilities of the user! -The Illusion is directly dependent upon the Wisdom of the User! -The Illusion is inversely dependent upon the volume of creation!] [Skill Card Cost: 5 Million Points!] [Skill: Superhuman Senses Grade: B Effects: Enhances the Senses of the user to 200%, unlocking two extra senses! Unlocks Sixth Sense - Allows you to Perceive any iing dangers before they even ur! Unlocks Seventh Sense - Allows you to Perceive the beings that are normally not seen to the naked eyes!] [Skill Card Cost: 7 Million Points!] [Skill: Weakness Detection Grade: B Effects: Allows the user to detect the weakness of all beings in his vicinity! -Time taken to detect the weakness for a B-Grade Enemy with equal Wisdom: 1 minute! -Time increases/decreases by a factor of 10 for every grade up/down! -Time increases/decreases by a percent for every difference in Wisdom Points!] [Skill Card Cost: 5 Million Points!] Based on what I told the staff, they brought me the following three cards. Anything above 10 million points was in the A-Grade so I decided to not look at them for now. Also, the intelligence collection type cards were either D-Grade that were pretty useless, or were pretty high as much as SS-Grade. They were their prized possession and required more than just points to be bought, so I didn''t even bother to check it. "Oh! These are nice. Didn''t know they had cards like these in the B-Grades," a feeble voice came from behind as an old man wearing a golden eye piece appeared in my view. He was a bit fat, wearing a cream coloured suit with a red bow-tie. I turned around to take a proper look at his slightly chubby face covered with a tidy white beard and a short mustache. Other than that, the only noticeable feature was his bald hair that was shining equally bright as the lights in the shop. "Depending upon how many skill slots you have, you should go with [Superhuman Senses!], though [Weakness detection!] seems useful as well," he spoke as he observed the cards properly. "Skill slots?" I was a bit confused. It was a term that I haven''t heard before. "Hmmm?" He looked at my confused face before he asked," I mean. Depending upon how many skill slots you have, you should choose the cards carefully. Lest you waste them on such low grade skills?" Though it made me more confused. "It would be better if I exin it, sir Alphonso," and the helping voice came from the side as Annikan appeared once again. This time with a troubled expression on his face as he looked at me and spoke, "I should have exined it first. Crow, you probably won''t know it since you haven''t reached the limit, but a person here can only have 10 skills in their slot." "???" I made a confused expression before he continued, "I''ll exin in detail. I am from a Vampire Lineage with part-human abilities. So, I have 2 Racial skills rted to my race. Now, other than that, I also happen to have 10 skill slots which I can fill with 10 more skills of any type. These 10 [Skill Slots] are constant for all the yers. There are two rules that you must know before you set the skills." He raised two fingers before speaking the first rule, "One. Once you choose a skill, you can never remove it. Except if you happen to get a [Skill Deleter!] type artifact, which is rare in itself." ''Hmmm¡­ that''s¡­'' I had no words to describe what I just heard. "Two. You can only choose a maximum of 10 skills. The only way to increase the maximum number is to increase the number of slots." I looked at him for a few seconds before I processed that information and then I looked at the 9 skills that I had. Does that mean I can have only one more skill? "How many skill slots do you have left?" Annikan asked and I looked at two of the skills that I had with least grade, [Sleep (E)!] [Blood ze (E)!] And then putting in somemands through my thoughts, I tried something. [Would you like to sell the skill [Sleep!] and [Blood ze!] For 4500 GM Points?!] A sigh of relief on the inside as I made sure that I haven''t wasted my skill slots. It would have been quite a big blunder not gonna lie. Pressing [No!], I then canceled themand before looking at him as I answered," I have 7 more empty slots." He sighed in relief before speaking," good. Many people make the mistake of filling their skill slots early in the tutorial. Even though the tutorial only provides a maximum of 8 skills, it isn''t rare for the stronger yers to fill half of the slots with those trash skills. Some even all the 8 slots." ''I filled 9,'' I thought, a bit embarrassed, but didn''t say that out loud. "Is that so? Thanks, I guess but¡­ what''s the catch, Annikan? Sorry to be so rudely blunt but I don''t believe in free lunches. Why are you helping me when you could have just let me be on my own?" I asked since all this help was something that was making me feel itchy. If we were friends or we knew each other from a long time or something, then maybe I could have understood his intentions as a good will but we just met today. It''s way too odd for him to be helping me out for no reason¡­ especially when he knows nothing about me at all. He looked at me for a few seconds as silence covered the area. I saw him peeking at that old man for a few seconds before he sighed out loud. "Actually I wanted something from you. Kind of wanted to curry favor with you, before asking something in return," he spoke as he looked at me with an apologetic expression. "My blood?" I asked. Since he was a vampire n all. "I am a vegan," he answered with a serious tone. "Seriously?" "Seriously!" A moment of silence before he continued, "It''s rted to the Tutorial Phase 4. You haven''t died in the previous one, right? You said youpleted it." I nodded, but for some reason, a chain reaction started as everyone around me looked at me with a shocked expression. The staff member, that old man, and the other people who were keenly listening to our conversation. "Wait! So that means he can visit that ce?" "I think I saw him buying a B-Grade Card!" "He has strength too!" "Excuse me! What''s your name? Can we talk privately?" "Kid! Would you like a couple of B-Grade Cards for free? I can even buy you an A-Grade one." "Hey! Move! Let me get through! I was closer to him!" A hugemotion ensued making me confused as I looked around. I wondered what was going on and fortunately or unfortunately, someone suddenly entered the area where I was. "What is going on here?" A brown haired female with two golden horns on her head, wearing a long red dress, walked towards us. On each side of her there 2 women with twin-buns, while they wore ck dress simr to the staff members of this shop. Her voice carried a heavy aura, making other people step back as they watched her appearing. The few who weren''t shaken by her were Annikan, that old man and the staff members of the shop. One of the staff members walked towards her, and mumbled something to her, to which her eyes first narrowed at Annikan before she looked at me. She then spoke out, "Everyone other than Mr. Alphonso and Mr. Annikan, please leave. As apensation, You will be given a 10% discount on the next purchase." Though the fear was apparent on their faces, they still didn''t move. They were peeking at me, while checking the facial expression of that red dresseddy. "You have one minute," thatdy added in a heavy voice before everyone grumbled and slowly started leaving the shop. Though they didn''t seem satisfied with what happened, they still followed out of the shop without speaking a single word. ''Seems like she holds a lot more authority than others here,'' I thought as I looked at that woman. "Now Mr Crow. Will you please follow me? I suppose you have many questions. I will exin everything properly. And then we can perhaps reach a stand point where we can all have a proper deal," she spoke before she turned around and began back where she came from. And after giving it a momentary thought, I realized that this solves one of my Goals. The right people to collect information from. A smile appeared on my face as I began walking behind her. My eyes observing the people around me give me nces as if I were some form of treasure. What increased my value and what made them value me so highly? I didn''t know. I had to find that out. It felt odd to be the center of attention even when I barely did anything. Walking behind that woman, we walked through some form of strange door that took us to a huge open area. It seemed like a big office that had various types of objects lying around. At one side of the office there were some levitating cushions in the air. Reaching towards that area, the woman sat on the biggest cushion, with her two staffdies standing behind her. Annikin sat on the left sofa while Mr. Alphonso sat on the right, while I sat opposite to thedy as I observed her face, before she rxed a little and asked, "So tell me Mr. Crow. How much do you know about the Tutorials?" Chapter 47: [The reality of Tutorial Phase 1!] "So tell me Mr. Crow. How much do you know about the Tutorials?" I looked at her before answering, "I used to think it was a ce where you have to survive until the very end but after I reached the safe zone, I realized that it was a chance to improve your living condition after what happened in the tutorial. As for how, I only know that points are everything in the safe zone. And the only way to earn a lot of it is in the tutorial." She looked at me for a brief moment before she sighed and mumbled," so you know nothing, huh?" "Huh?" Confused I looked at her, while she continued speaking, "Let''s start with the very basics." "Do you know what this ce is? Some call it Tower, others call it Heaven Floors. There are many names for this world that we live in, but for convenience sake, let''s call it the Tower." I looked at her with my eyes narrowed, taking in all the information that she was providing as I listened to her. "The Tower has a total of 100 Floors, starting from 0 upto 100. We are currently at Floor 1. The Floor of Azkaban. And the tutorial is also known as Floor 0. Not going into the detail of the Floors, let''s focus on the Tutorial first, shall we?" She then clicked her finger creating a wooden rectangle board on the table. "The Tutorial is a gateway from your world to the Tower, allowing you to have a chance to change your life once and for all. If you die, you get transferred to Floor 1 with all the things that you have achieved up to that point." The wooden board then split into 10 small rectangles, each of equal sizes. "Tutorial level 1 is to give you a chance to adapt to the environment. Level 2 is to analyze your own power with the situation. And Level 3 is to utilize that power with added items and skills from the shop." Three of the pieces were separated from the others. "Together, the first three levels are generally considered as a single phase. There are two reasons for that, one is that they are connected to each other, and the other is that you can only earn points in the first three phases of the tutorial. The other 7 levels do not give you any points." She then sighed as she saw my wide open eyes, before she continued, "I hope you have earned enough, since until you get to at least Floor 10, you won''t be able to earn a decent amount of Points at all. Anyways, now to the important part. Just like the previous 3, the next 3 Tutorials are also connected to each other." She seperated another 3 cing them together. I listened to each of her words with extreme care, not missing even a single word as if my life depended on it. "They are collectively called the Tutorial of Skills. Here you will find 1000s of skills, from Grade E to a maximum of Grade S. If you are lucky, you may even find a Grade SS skill. Bad news is that the difficulty to obtain them increases as the Grade increases, but good news is that you get them as [Skill Cards] so even if you don''t take them for yourself, you can bring them back as many as you can." She smiled as she looked at me before adding another piece of information, "But there is something more. In the Tutorial Level 6, you will find a ce called as [Forgery!], that allows you to fuse various skill cards together. Though the sess chances are low, there is a chance to increase the grade of the skill card if the synergy of the two is good." I looked at her for a few seconds before I asked, "So you want me to synergise as many cards as possible and get you as many S-Grade ones?" Now I could understand why everyone wanted to talk to me down there. I am capable of making millions in the first tutorial, so naturally I am strong. Then adding with the information of the next three floors, I could potentially gain arge amount of cards. I guess, Annikin was thinking the same as well? I looked at him, while he seemed to be sheepishly smiling at me. "If you can give us S-Grade ones, we would be more than happy to pay you enough to live a couple of lifetimes. But we usually make deals with A-Grade ones and below, since they are easier to procure. S-Grade aren''t apples you can pluck off from the tree, you know?" Thedy spoke as she looked at me with a slight chuckle. I nodded at her. Before asking, "Since we are on that topic. What is the best skill grade to ept in skill slots?" "Hmm that would be A-Grade and above. To be honest, there are special ranks for people with multiple S-Grade skills," She spoke as she brought forward a certain list. 10 A-Grade Skills - Amature 1-3 S-Grade Skills - Soldier 4-6 S-Grade Skills or 1 SS Grade Skill - Warrior 7+ S Grade Skills or 2-3 SS Grade Skills - Champion 5-7 SS Grade Skills or 1 SSS Grade Skill - Legend ''Goal is 10 SSS skill,'' I made a point as I smiled before asking, "How many Legends are there?" "I think 7? Though they are the highest floors of the towers," she answered before changing the topic, "All right. Enough of chit chat. Now that you know everything that you should know, is it all right if I ask you a few questions?" Since she provided me with such crucial intel, I nodded as it would be fine to answer her as long as it doesn''t get too personal. "Don''t worry. I don''t get involved in personal things," as if reading my mind, she smiled at me before asking a set of normal questions. They weren''t direct questions that asked about my skills and gift, but simr questions enough to judge if I was powerful enough for them to strike a deal with. And after a proper discussion where they were satisfied, I asked a question that had been bugging me for quite sometime now. "Ummm. I know it''s a bit awkward since we have been talking for quite some time now but¡­ who exactly are you?" I asked as I looked at her. "Pfft-" she paused for a moment beforeughing a little. Then she looked at me with a sudden mysterious smile as she answered, "Sorry for thete introduction. I kind of forgot to do that amidst all the serious discussion. My name ir, a True Dragon, the owner of the [True Skill Emporium!], and also the [Administrator of the First Floor!]." ¡­ In a restaurant near the central market of the safe zone. "Man, this is the best!" Mark spoke as he took a bite of the meatballs he bought with some 100 points. Considering he had over a million points, this was pretty cheap for him, so he felt pretty rich. Going as far as even paying for Alice and Alex sitting with him. "Easy there Mark. I know we have earned a lot, but we should be careful with how much we spend. Maybe you know, look out for some weapons or something?" Alex, who was much more reserved, tried to calm Mark, though it didn''t seem to be working as Mark simply red at him. They haven''t eaten anything proper for a few days, and nobody knows how long the next tutorial will be. At least that''s what the philosophy with which Mark convinced the other two to eat with him. Unlike Mark, Alice ate her portion gracefully while checking out her system and skills. While she agreed with Alex about checking out some weapons, she also didn''t mind stopping to eat for a change of pace. Though there was another concern that was filling her mind¡­ ''Did he not make it?'' She thought as she recalled the guy who was leading their team during the first two days. How he acted as bait so that they could survive¡­ even then she was sure that he would somehow survive again but now that it''s been a few hours and he still hasn''t returned, she was now mulling over the possibility of his death as well. "ALICE!!! Huff¡­ huff¡­ you are¡­ here¡­ " And there came Julia, running as she barely caught her breath. From the sweat all over her body, it was apparent that she ran quite a bit. And then looking at the trio who was now facing her she spoke, "They¡­e back. Everyone¡­e back¡­" And behind were two people who should have been dead. They were Tristan and Reyan, the duo which were killed by that monster that Adrian killed. ¡­ In a park near the middle circle of the safe city, there was sitting a blonde kid with a glowing blue sword on his waist. That Mana sword was the reason why the boy was able to rule over the first tutorial for a brief period of time. He had ns to take over the entire tutorial over time, but reality washed all his ns away when he found out that the points that he was using to sabotage the [Shop] items, had far more value in this [Safe City!]. "I am such a pathetic loser," he grumbled as he put his head down, while sitting on a lone chair. Losing everything in the tutorial. Whether it was friends, money or power, there was nothing that he had now that could be counted on. He was truly alone now. "Are you perhaps a swordsman?" And then the feeble voice of a boy came, making Luke turn around, only to find a kid no more than 13 years old standing behind him. Ignoring the kid, Luke stood up and began walking away from there, but the kid started following behind him as he asked again, "Hey! Mister! Where are you going? Tell me! Are you an adventurer?" Luke stopped before turning around. And then ring at the kid, he said," I am a bad person. Didn''t your mom tell you to stay away from strangers? I might kidnap you!" Luke even tried making a scary face, but the kid only ended upughing out loud, making Luke angry a bit. That kidughed for a few more seconds before turning back to Luke as he said, "It''s a safe city, Mister. Nobody can harm anyone else unless the other party wants to get hurt. Don''t you even know the basics?" "Is that so? Well. I just finished the tutorial so I don''t know much about it," Luke answered without much thinking, to which that kid became excited even more as he shouted, "Then does that mean you can collect cards?!!!" Chapter 48: [Recollection!] [Location: True Skill Emporium Main Office!] Adrian/Crow left the ce after buying the three B-Grade Skill Cards with him. Though he couldn''t sign any form of contract with the shop owner, he was still guided through various processes of exchanges. As long as he provided enough cards, the shop would always be open for him to sell any high Grade Cards he wanted to sell. There were two reasons why he didn''t sign any contract. First was that the contract bound him to provide them with at least 10 B-Grade Skill Cards, 2 A-Grade Skill Cards or 1 S-Grade Skill Card. The second was that he needed to provide information about his power levels and such so that they may assign an equal level of benefit to him, for example giving him free skill cards and items that would be helpful in his journey. While the first one bound him to finish collecting additional cards, the second one revealed the extent of his powers. Both of them were something that he found erratic. Even though he was there to get some skill cards, he was primarily there to get some information. And since he already had enough to sustain through the next three tutorials, he decided to step back from getting too much involved. Adrian then left thanking the [Administrator], before the five of them were left all by themselves. And as soon as Adrian stepped out of the shop, the admin, ir looked at Annikan before speaking, "Your skills have dulled Annikan." Annikan sighed as he didn''t retort. He simply kept his head down before slowly looking at the Admin, ir. "Was there really nothing special about him?" Annikan asked with slight hope, as he knew that there must be a reason for his special skill [Intuition!] activated when he first met Crow. It was a skill that activates only when something out of the ordinary urs. It wasn''t like there were never instances where he finds people who weren''t up to par, just that the demeanor that Crow showed made him believe that there was something special about him. Annikan couldn''t pin point exactly what but he was pretty sure there was at least something. But all his hopes were crushed with the next words that ir spoke¡­ "Let me recall again. He has 9 skill slot filled with the average being D-Grade. He sure has a lot of C-Grade items, but that would only help himst against D-Grade mindless monsters for a small period of time," ir said as she had analyzed Adrian partially. Her skills never gave a direct answer, but showed her partial intel like the total number of items and skills a person has. Their average grade, and a bit about the base physical stats the target has. "It''s that bad, huh?" He sighed as he truly missed this time. Normally he would bring people with huge worth, but seems like he truly wasted the [Admin''s] time this time. "I can see how he got a million points and above. Given his stealth cloak on the top of those mindless monsters in the first tutorial, it''s not that hard to collect points. Though I doubt he would survive even a day in the next tutorial. The monsters there don''t just jump and attack, you know?" ir spoke before she looked at the list of people that she got from her investigators. It was a list containing the name of the people that have appeared in the safe zone in thest 24 hours. "Well seems like, even I got excited for no reason," Mr. Alphonso spoke as he stood up before continuing, "But one thing I must say. He didn''t appear to be weak. I wonder about the grade of his [Gift]." Mr. Alphonso left in silence before Annikan stood up as well. Bowing to the admin once again, he too left as he had more work piled up in the time he was here. And left alone with the two staffdies present there, the Admin looked at the names a couple of times. Her eyes were particrly searching for a specific name. A name that should have been there but wasn''t. "It''s not here," she spoke as she looked at one of her staff members as she added,"the name Crowley isn''t here." "Hmmm? I had my skill active the whole time. He wasn''t lying," the staff girl with the skill [Truth Detection!] spoke with a bit of surprise, while making ir narrow her eyes at the area where Crow was sitting before. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez Nickname: Crow!] ''Who knew you can add a nickname for mere 25 GM points. Ain''t that convenient?'' I smiled as I looked briefly at the system before observing the three skills that I bought from the shop. At first, I thought of saving the [Skill Upgrade Coupon!] forter when I get another B-Grade skill, but then on second thought, I should just use it now. After all, I need it now more than ever. And the skill that I used it on was, [Skill: Illusion Grade: B Effect: Create a near perfect Illusion based on your Wisdom Stat and extent of creation! Restrictions: -The Illusion is directly dependent upon the creation capabilities of the user! -The Illusion is directly dependent upon the Wisdom of the User! -The Illusion is inversely dependent upon the volume of creation!] [You have upgraded the Skill: Illusion!] [Skill: Illusion Grade: A Effect: Create a near perfect Illusion based on your Wisdom Stat! Restrictions: -The Illusion is directly dependent upon the creation capabilities of the user! -The Illusion is directly dependent upon the Wisdom of the User!] Thest restriction that made the skill depend upon the volume was removed as the grade increased. It made me wonder if the S-Grade also removed the dependence of Wisdom Stat? That would be really overpowered. And with that, I tried creating an illusion. Starting with a blue coloured small butterfly on my hands. It seemed to be made of a blue paper that slowly gained depth as I concentrated. "It''s itchy," I spoke out as it was getting harder the more I was trying to define the shape of the butterfly. Though after I adjusted for a few seconds, it became easier to control that stationary butterfly. "Fly," I mumbled as I imagined it to fly in the air, and so it did, attracting the attention of nearby people. Slowly flying in the air, I tried checking the distance of how far I could send it, and after a few minutes when it was still flying high up in the air, I was satisfied as I erased its presence. The next step was masking my own presence. Surprisingly it was easier than creating the butterfly, as I just imagined myself to be invisible to everyone present around me. The illusion was nearly perfect as it even masked my sound and smell, before I began walking forward, this time towards the central area where the richest of the richest people stayed. My target this time was the central towering golden building, which was probably the tallest building in the entire city. As for the reason why I wanted to visit the ce was because of increasing the grade of my [Gift!]. A city that stretches many kilometers and the area beyond that, surely I won''t miss such a chance to increase the experience of my gift, would I? Even though I can''t look at all of it at once, I don''t need to exactly see it in detail to map the entire area. A rough idea of the map should be able to increase my [Gift] by a huge margin. "I am a little hungry too. Let''s hope that ce has some good diners avable as well," I thought as I felt my stomach growling before I began moving towards the central tower. While I was moving, I checked if I could store more skills given my special gamemaster privilege but sadly¡­ [All your skill slots are filled! You can''t store any more skills!] This made me sigh before I tried something. [Would you like to create an Extra Skill Slot for 10,000 GM Points?] "Oh! That''s cheap," I smiled before pressing yes and then trying to increase the slot once more¡­ [Would you like to create an Extra Skill Slot for 100,000 GM Points?] "¡­" I pressed [No!] before giving it out a loud sigh. Seems like I need to sort out the direction of my skill category and how I need to utilize them. [Would you like to remove [Cooking] Skill for 200,000 GM Points?] ''Hmmm? ''Remove'' and not ''sell''? ''For'' and not ''in exchange for''?'' I noticed that I can''t sell the skill. Hence, I began checking a few things with all the skills and items that I have, before I realized something crucial. I can''t sell skills or items that I haven''t created. And they can only be removed by using more GM points. ''I guess it would be too broken if I could really do that,'' not minding much, I closed down the [System] windows before increasing the pace of my steps. There were many things that I wanted to try out, but I wanted to eat something. I was hungry. And hence I went to the location as fast as possible before moving to the nearest restaurant I could find there. ¡­ [Near the Market Area: Alice and Mark''s Party!] The group included Mark, Alice and Alex on one side. Tristan, Julia and Reyan on the other side. And the rest of the girls from Julia''s party standing in circles around them. "So basically, nobody died for real and the people who survived the tutorial have a chance to gain even more without worrying about death?" Alex asked as he observed Julia''s serious face. Julia nodded as that summed up most of the things she talked about with Alice''s group. Even though it was mostly the story of Tristan and Reyan, exining about what happened after they died, it gave various necessary intel that would help the group understand what''s going on in the safe zone and what we are actually going through with the tutorials and all. "All right. Thank you for providing us with the information Julia," and Alice stood up as she finished her te before she started walking out of the shop. "Alice?" Julia was confused for a few seconds before she momentarily stopped. Without turning, she added," Mark. Alex. Let''s go. We need to look for the fourth member of our team." And then Julia''s eyes widened as she recalled again, the main reason she ran all the way to Alice here. She was going to ask for her help to look for the guy who saved her life before. Chapter 49: [At the top of the Central Tower!] [Adrian''s POV!] [Your Gift [Cartography!] has increased by 1 Grade!] [Your Gift [Cartography!] has increased by 1 Grade!] [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Lower Mortal Grade - 4 Experience till next Grade: 90.00% (54/60 Square Miles) Effect: -Allows the user to createyered mental maps based on what he has observed! The user can switch between differentyers at will! -Marks all the yers on the Map with green color! -Marks all the NPCs on the Map with yellow color! -Marks all the Monsters on the Map with red color! -Marks all the Tower Officials on the Map with blue color! -Limited information about the known yers will be avable! -Allows the user to Mark 3 movable targets! Theplete known information about the targets will be visible!] Standing alone in a high ground area, at the top of the tallest building, I observed the night city view in front of me. Though there were people here before, they all went down about a few minutes ago, as I stood there all by myself here. After looking around in circles, at the entire city and beyond, I increased the grade of the [Gift], once again. But it seems like I would need to work extra hard from here onwards if I want to reach Grade 0 or beyond. ''It''s still nice though,'' I thought as I looked at the huge map in front of me, showing me the entire city and much of the forest area beyond that. Fun thing was that I was able to locate monsters, NPCs and all the yers present in the city. Though in order to look beyond what I was already capable of, I either need to increase the [Perception!] skill, or venture into the forest to increase it manually. "All right. This sums up a bit of everything that I wanted to do. So, what should be my next move from here?" I thought as I looked at the huge city in front of me. There were many things I could do but to be fair, there was nothing that takes an utmost priority here. "Doesn''t this suffocate you?" A sweet voice came from my left, making me turn to her as I saw a brown haired girl wearing a white one piece dress as she stood barefoot, watching the city view with a deep look in her eyes. There was emptiness in her eyes as if she was staring into an empty space in front of her. "You seem to be new here. Did you just arrive?" She asked as slowly turned to me, while I observed her for a brief moment without answering her. While I could have answered her immediately, the fact that she was semi transparent, made me wonder if I was looking at a real thing or was just hallucinating? "Ah! Apologies. I am Nora. The soul of the first floor," she spoke as she smiled at me with a smile that was way too mncholic. "Soul of the floor?" I asked as I observed Nora. She nodded at my question before speaking, "My real body is the entire floor. I am an ethereal entity whose life force is used to create this floor. What you are witnessing is just the projection of what my real self used to look like." "Is that so? Seems rather tragic," I spoke to which she chuckled and answered,"it is." "So are you like the entire city or beyond that as well?" I asked a bit curious, to which she answered," the entire floor. You can think of the city as my heart. Are you curious about how I came to be?" I pondered a bit before answering," I don''t know." "Hmmm?" Confused she tilted her head before I exined, "If it concerns me, then I am curious. If it has nothing to do with me, then I am not. So while I think that it may concern me, I don''t know if it really does or not." "That''s a strange way to think," she smiled before she said," well. Then let''s not talk about me. Tell me a bit about yourself. What''s your story?" "The name is Crowley. About my story. There is nothing particrly interesting," I said as I wondered if I should find a hotel nearby to call it a day and just sleep. As for all the mysteries of the safe zone and beyond, I will solve everything one by one, one step at a time. Including this one as well. Though before that, another voice came from behind. "Nora. There you are. We have been searching for you," a feminine voice came from behind, as about a dozen people wearing ck uniforms appeared. They first looked at Nora before turning at me. "It was fun talking with you, Mr. Crowley. Let''s meet againter," Nora spoke as she began walking towards those people, before all of them left from there in a hurried manner. I saw a couple of them peeking back at me, but that was for a few times before they vanished from my sightpletely, leaving me alone as I kept staring in the area where they left from. On the map, their color was represented by blue, most probably people of the tower who watched over the floors. The interesting thing was the color of Nora that was shown on the Map. It was neither blue nor yellow. It wasn''t green or red either¡­ It was purple. A color whose meaning I didn''t knew. "Should I get involved or not?" I wondered if there was any worth in doing that. And in the end, I decided that it would be better to throw someone else into this problem than going in myself. "Now where am I gonna find someone-" as I was thinking, I saw a familiar face appearing in front of me. "Alice! Can you¡­ huff huff¡­ slow down for a moment? We¡­ We have been walking continuously¡­ for an hour now!" Mark''s voice came from behind Alice as he huffed and puffed a lot. Unlike Alice who was perfectly fine, Mark was practically drenched in sweat. Alice looked around the area, as if trying to find someone. Her eyes narrowed as she kept observing the empty area while Mark moved closer to her. "Alice¡­ Why were you sure¡­ that he was¡­ here?" Mark asked as he observed Alice before looking around the area. Even though he was hiding his emotions, I could see the sadness in the corner of his eyes. "It''s high ground. The highest in the entire city. If he wanted to increase the grade of his [Gift!] this was the best ce to do so," Alice spoke, answering Mark''s question. I was surprised to hear that Alice could predict what I wanted to do. Though on second thought, it wasn''t that hard to guess. ''With my stealth and illusion, they probably can''t see me. Should I just appear in front of them?'' As I was pondering, I noticed that there were more people approaching us. A group of 10 yers. In the front were Alex and Julia, leading the rest of the party. They reached up the high ground pretty fast, as they joined Alice and Mark. Both of them looked around, as if trying to find someone, before they looked at Alice who simply sighed and shook her head, signifying that she didn''t find me. Behind the duo, were the rest of the yers. 6 of them from Julia''s girls party, while the rest two were her old friends, Reyan and Tristan. ''Ah! Of course they woulde back to life as well,'' I was shocked for a brief moment before recalling that everyone who dies,es back to life. ''Well. That fixes my decision of not showing myself here,'' I firmed my mind. It was barely fine to appear in front of Alice and Mark, but the rest of them, I would rather not. The group started talking among themselves on their next move and what they should do now. Some wanted to rest and others talked about the skill and armor shops they saw on their way here. Didn''t take much long to reach a conclusion as everyone decided to return back down. All except Alice as she watched the night city view in front of her. "Alice?" Alex asked. Alice kept staring at the empty space in front of her as she spoke, "I''ll be there in a moment. You guys go." Not minding much, everyone slowly nodded and then left from there. Mark also stayed for a few more seconds, observing Alice but since there wasn''t any point in staying here anymore, he too left as well. The wind brushed past Alice''s face as she looked at the bright city below. She had mixed emotions about this new life of hers, as she wondered what she should do next. Despite being the strongest member of her group¡­ she felt weak. Despite being surrounded with people who were there for her¡­ she felt lonely. It was an odd predicament that she just wanted to get out of. "You shouldn''t cry, you know?" I spoke as I removed my stealth, making her widen her eyes before she turned to me. A sudden smile appeared on her face. A smile of relief, as if all the tension has subsided from her body. She looked at me with hope returning to her eyes. "Adrian," she called out my name as her eyes glistened a little. There was a hint of joy in it, a hint of relief. And returning the smile, I answered, "Good to see you too, Alice." Chapter 50: [A Conversation with Alice!] "I thought you were dead," Alice said as she looked at me with a serious expression as she ate the sandwich that I bought forter, just in case. "Not really. I was hunting a bunch of Pelikans and Goblins, trying to find a way to save the chief. Though I didn''t knew that saving the chief would result in ending the tutorial," I took a bite out of my portion while I added, "Did everyone make it?" She nodded at my words. Even though she was a bit shocked to hear that I was the reason why the tutorial ended early, based on how much she had seen and known, she more or less already expected it. "So whazz yor¡­ nom nom gulp¡­ next n?" She asked as she looked at me after finishing her portion of the sandwich. A bit of the myonesse was stuck below her lips, to which I pointed before passing a tissue to her. As she wiped the myonesse, I looked at the city below us before speaking, "The priority is the next tutorial. Though on the sidelines, I was also thinking of taking control of the entire safe city, and the first floor. It''s a bit of a piece of work, but it needs to be done if I want to sleep peacefully without being worried about anythingter." It was something that I just thought of right now. The fact that there were people above me like the Admin and that ''Soul of the floor,'' I couldn''t feel it right wondering what would happen if one day they tried sabotaging my life? I must make my move discreetly and slowly if I don''t want that to happen. "The floor?" Alice was really surprised as she paused her hand action with that handkerchief still on her lips. Though there was slight confusion in her eyes, as if she didn''t understood theplete meaning behind my words. I recollected my thoughts for a brief moment before speaking, "Alice. Let me ask you this question. Will you work for me? Not ''with me'' or ''beside me'' but ''for me.'' I must tell you there is a difference-" "Yes," she answered without a moment of hesitation as she looked at me. I observed her for a few seconds before nodding at her as I spoke, "Then follow mymands for the time being. I won''t tell you everything, but I will tell you everything that''s necessary. It''s not that I want to hide things from you, but because of certain reasons it''s better if I don''t tell anything." She pondered before speaking," you are the only one among us who seemed to have a total grasp of the entire situation. Honestly, as long as it''s not against my ethics, I don''t mind following yourmands. Though¡­ we are still friends, right?" I smiled as I nodded," We are. And don''t worry about it." She smiled as she nodded before asking," should I bring Mark in as well? He too would follow all of yourmands without asking any questions." Though I shook my head before speaking," it''s better if we don''t. Although he is trustworthy, my ns aren''t exactly gonna be a white sheet of paper. Involving him right now would make things worse than better. At least not until he has seen the reality of how cruel this world can be." "So when are you going to meet with him? Even though he is not showing, he is far more worried about you than anyone in the group," Alice asked with a deep look on her face. It seems she was worried about Mark here. "Not right now. Maybe in the next tutorial? Though that depends on the situation itself," I gave her a crude answer since even I didn''t know when would be the best time to meet him. And it would only get dangerous for him to get involved with me with all the things that I am going to pull in the future. "Is that so?" Alice was a bit saddened with the response. "Don''t feel so bad now. It''s better if we don''t meet for the time being¡­ also, since we have met, I think it would be better for you to know a couple of things about this tutorial and the next," I got her attention back as I began exining about the entire scenario and the stuff that was going to happen in the next tutorial. Her eyes widened as she took in all the information that I told her. From what she exined, she had 6 free skill slots right now, with the three of them wasted on the F-Grade skills. Thest one was a B-Grade skill, [Hunt!], which she got after hunting all the monsters in the tutorial. Surprisingly, the innate skills she had were not counted in the [Skill Slots!], which made her [Gift!] all the more valuable. Though, she was still sad to hear that she wasted three skill slots for nothing. "Don''t worry, I will get you some [Skill Eraser] artifact to help you with the skill slots. For now, just focus on saving Points and focusing more on [Items] than skills. I think it would be better for you to aim for 2 B-Grade Skills, 2 A-Grade skills, and 2 beyond that," I gave her a simple task, to which she nodded immediately. I saw her smiling a lot as I was exining, to which I asked," what?" She chuckled as she answered," nothing. You are always reliable, no matter what the situation is. Whether it was before the apocalypse or after, it''s as if you are always prepared for any sort of situation." "Live a life like mine, and it will be a necessity," I sighed before wondering if I missed anything that I should tell her. Though it seems, I passed on all the things that I needed to pass. So that brings us to the next task, "With that being done, there is something that I would like you to do in the time that I am not with the group. First, tell them everything that I told you. Of course, keep my existence a secret as well. And while you are at it, spend some points to go to the [Training Camp!], tomorrow. It would be better if you can bring Mark and the others with you. Though not much, it should Help you guys get stronger by a small margin." ir, the Admin of this floor, told me about various facilities that the floor provides. The [Training Camp!] is one of the areas for the beginners who are new to this whole fighting monsters and stuff. The price is neither too cheap nor too heavy on the pocket, so I guess Alice and the others won''t have any problem taking up that camp. ''It will also be a good way for them to adjust with the new world,'' I pondered as I looked at the glistening face of Alice. It seems she really liked this idea of mine. "I was wondering what was the best way to spend Points without wasting too much of them. As expected of our leader and strategist. You always know the right answers," she smiled as her personality was bing rather too energetic. Just where did our cold hearted silent Alice go? Though looking at that smiling face, I felt a little happy, too. "All right. So I have to tell everyone about the [Cards], the next tutorial and also about the [Training Camp!]. Is that all?" She asked as she recounted the tasks she had for now. I nodded before standing up and speaking," I will meet you tomorrow morning. Just stay anywhere out in the open, I will reach out to you." She nodded as she asked,"At what time?" "Let''s meet at 8 AM," I answered before adding," Now hurry up. They must all be waiting for you." I saw her nodding before she waved me goodbye. Then hurrying back down, she vanished from my sight as I stood there alone again. Though this time, I felt a little bit happier than before. The previous tinge of sadness¡­ it wasn''t there any more. "All right. I should go and sleep now¡­ it was a fulfilling day, tomorrow is only going to get busier," I yawned a little before activating my [Stealth] and [Illusion!] once again. On my way back, I found that the night city was much more active than the day. The number of people doubled, and more shops were open than there were in the day. Even the atmosphere was twice as lively as in the morning. My eyes thennded on a familiar person eating ice cream in the distance. She was Adide, the half vampire who was pretending to be attacked by some thugs in the morning. Looking at the group of people she was walking with, they seemed to be a group of adventurers. Surprisingly, Adide, along with 3 more people in that party were yers, while the rest of them were NPCs. Given the face that she was a half vampire, does that mean that people from other worlds alsoe here as yers? ''I thought that only humans would appear here as yers, while the demihumans or other beings were NPCs of this world. Fascinating,'' I was amazed a bit at this miniscule information that changed the perspective of the way I looked at this world. Walking onwards, I then reached a nearby fancy hotel. Since I didn''t mind spending a little, I decided to spend 120k points on avish hotel that provides multiple services. To rest was also a very important decision since tomorrow was the day when the official Tutorial ends. Though it wasn''t exactly rted to me, I still had to find a couple of people that I knew from the back alley days. Given how roudy they are, there is a high chance they would be among those who willplete the tutorial without dying. ''It''s been a while since I met them. I wonder how they are now,'' I thought as I went towards the receptionist. I didn''t realize but a smile was present on my face all the time I was thinking about tomorrow. Chapter 51: [Preparing for the Future!] Waking up the next morning, I took an early proper bath before ordering a quick breakfast. With breakfast done, I stretched the usual as my morning schedule before doing a quick 20 push up. Though since it felt rather easy, I did about 100 before feeling a bit of pump in my body. ''Must be the increased stats,'' I thought as I did 3 more sets of proper push ups before I finally felt tired and then rxed. Doing a simr set of pull ups in the gym area provided by the hotel, I then went on to do the rest of the exercises as well. It wasn''t like I wasn''t getting any exercise in the past week, but still a full body pump feels rather fulfilling. Much better inparison to normal fights and running. By the time I was done, I ordered another set of breakfast after taking another bath. And then getting out of the hotel, I moved towards the [Training Camp!] where Alice and others should be. Given it was still about an hour before I needed to meet Alice, I decided to take a detour while going to a nearby [Item] shop, which I sawst night. There was something in particr that I wanted to buy and since I had time, I wondered if there was anything like that avable here. And not much up to par, I found something simr. [Mask of the Crow! Grade: E Effects: Changes the Voice of the user depending upon the amount of mana inserted into it!] [Cost: 5000 Points!] I wasn''t particrly interested in the mask itself, so I was going to make changes to its structureter on. Though the feature of voice changing was good enough for me. To be honest, I was looking for a mask that could change the facial features as well, but it seems like I need to manually add that for now. "Thank you for the purchase!" Spoke the cashier as he gave me the mask before I walked out and erased my presence again. Before putting on the mask, I spent some GM Points in changing the structure of the mask from having a long metallic beak to a simple ck Masquerade mask. And once that was done, I increased the Grade of the Mask for 12,000 GM points, while I manually added another effect on it. [Mask of the Crow! Grade: D Effects: -Changes the Voice of the user! -Hides the face of the userpletely! As long as the Wisdom of the User is even 33% of the gazer, they won''t be able to see through the mask!] It was an added effect over the [Illusion!] skill of mine. Though overkill, I didn''t mind having multipleyers of protection in order to hide my identity. Precautions are better than cure after all. "Now. Where is Alice?" I mumbled as I looked at the [Map], as I tried locating her using the marker that I had ced on her yesterday. And it didn''t take much time as I found her standing near the [Training Camp!]. I expected the others, including Mark, to be there with her, but they weren''t. Did they go inside early? Could be. Taking the first step, I then activated my stealth over my illusion as I began running towards the ce where Alice was. Since it was a few kilometers ahead on the other side of the tall central tower, I kind of needed to hurry if I wanted to reach before 8 AM. Though it seems my worries were unfounded as I reached there within 15 minutes. Perhaps I was still underestimating my increased stats much? Anyways, when I reached there, I saw Alice sitting in one of the chairs of an open cafe. She had ordered two cups of coffee, one for her, while the other one was probably for me. Moving towards the chair, I then traced for Mark and the others. Finding that they were in the training camp as I expected before, I put my guard a bit down before showing my presence to her. Her eyes looked up to me, and her serious cold expression changed to a smiling one, as I then sat in front of her. "What''s with the mask?" She asked curiously, to which I chuckled as I answered,"it has a voice changing feature. Anyways¡­" I then changed my voice a bit different from what I had,"¡­ how are things on your end?" Not surprised as much, she spoke," I told everyone about everything that you did. As you can expect, they were all really surprised to hear this information. Plus the idea of getting strong in the [Training Camp!]. When I suggested that, it made everyone fired up. It seems everyone was worried about the same thing. Some of them wanted to visit that ce as soon as they heard about it, though in the end the group decided to visit there together in the morning." "That''s better. Now, there are two things that I need you to take note of. How you do it is up to you," I then turned serious as well. Picking up the cup of coffee, I took a sip as I continued, "The people will be finishing the tutorial today. From what I had collected till yesterday, we have two goals for the time being. First to collect all the people we know or we can trust. For you, it would be your mother and father, for Mark it would be his brother. Though don''t just stop there, go beyond and try finding everyone you can know. We can separate them based on morality and other basester." The idea was to form arge group, and then pick the most valuables from them. Train them, and include them in the group as we prepare for the next tutorial and beyond. I did need many ''Heroes'' that will jump in battle to solve the situations of the tutorial, safe zones and everything else. It''s not my cup of tea to be the hero anyway. "The second thing that I need to do is to check out something. I feel like not all the people have been transferred here. For example there could be more safe cities that we don''t know of. So try to make aparison and see how many people are missing from our city that should have been present here," I concluded the two things that I wanted her to do. The second thing was to confirm if there are more cities here or not. The Admin told me that it is only the first floor, so given how things normally work, nobody should be able to reach the second floor directly. ''Plus the safe city was never big enough to hold 8 billion people. If we Add the fact that there are already people living here, and that too of multiple races¡­ just how big is the first floor?'' The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there were still many things that were a mystery. Are we in a single world that held everyone together, or were there multiple independent first floors that were separated from each other but connected to the second floor in some way? Like I said before, there were still too many things that were a mystery. "All right. I will get to it. Is there anything else that I should be careful of?" Alice asked as she looked at me with a deep gaze, before I shook my head. Looking at me, then she put the cup down and spoke, "Actually. There was something that I wanted to ask." I observed her with a narrowed look as she continued, "What kind of weapon should I take? Up until now, I was just using my skills one over another. But now that I think about it, I really need to get a weapon of my own. Though honestly, I never picked up anything other than a pen in my life. Not even a kitchen knife." She spoke a bit embarrassed, though I did not mind. Most of the people would fall in the same category as her. In fact, she was doing much better than her, given with her Gift and all. "Hmmm. A weapon that suits your [Gift], along with the fact that it should workfortably with you, huh?" I pondered for a moment before noting a few points. Alice''s Gift allowed her to improve her skills to leaps and bounds. So a weapon that works well with her skills or skills that powers up her weapon would be the best. Along with the added fact that the weapon could work well with the [Gift!] as well. "Hmmm. I actually have something in mind for you, but it might take some time to get it," I spoke as I finalized my thoughts. She looked at me with her eyes glistening as she asked, "Really?! What is it?!!" Though I just chuckled before answering,"I won''t tell. You need to wait until the next tutorial starts. Until then, I advise you to choose a suitable B-Grade skill. Preferably something that increases your Agility or hides your presence." Unhappy with my words, she narrowed her eyes at me. Though in the end she sighed as she spoke," All right. As you say, Leader." I then stood up as I spoke," with this done. I will be leaving now." "Wait! When are we going to meet again?!" She asked, a bit worried, to which I pondered before answering," I mighte randomly to meet you if I need anything. Otherwise, I will meet you about an hour before the next tutorial starts." Hearing my answer, she pondered a few things before she nodded. I then bid her farewell, before erasing my presencepletely. She was surprised as usual, but didn''t react too much. Her jolly face once again turned back to serious and cold, as she paid for the coffee and then began moving in the direction of the [True Skill Emporium!]. The [Skill Cards!] shop that was run by the Admin. Chapter 52: [Avida!] About an hourter, I was back at the fountain area where we had spawned first. My eyes looked at the timer, and from what I remember the tutorial should end anytime now. "Huh?" "We are safe!" "Wait! What''s this timer?!" "I am tired!" "¡­" I saw 5 people appearing out of thin air, before a dozen more appeared. Then a dozen more as they all looked at the ce around. Their eyes wide opened up as they tried to adjust their eyesight with the surroundings. I scanned them all, but sadly not one of them had a face that I recognized. And from what I could see, each of them were weaker than the other one. Even Mark alone could handle all of them by himself. ''Did they do nothing but survive in the safe zone? Well, I guess not everyone is as enthusiastic as the young teens,'' I reached a conclusion before looking at the map at various areas where the density of yers were more. ''Oh!'' And to my surprise, the spawn point of the yers was rather symmetric along with the radial circumference of the circle of the city which was crossing this fountain point. It was on an equal distance from each other, and there were probably hundreds of spawn points, with each having at least 50 or so yers there. Since this ce pretty much contained all the garbage yers, I moved away from here before reaching the nearest ce where the next spawn point was. The yers were still there, even a few strong ones. But none that I was familiar with. ''Next one,'' I didn''t give up as the search had only begun. I knew that it was going to be a long ride and it was probably going to tax me a lot today¡­ but it was still fine. If I could find even a single person from the group that I was searching for, it would make the entire effort worth it. By the third point, the yers had started scattering. By the fourth, they were more or less gone. By 5th I had to look around the area as well. By 6th and 7th, I more or less lost them. "All right. Let''s change the way now," I mumbled before finding a high ground nearby. It wasn''t exactly the best way to search given how big the city was, but given the choices that I had, it was the best that I could do right now. Moving to the high ground, I used my [Perception] and looked at the ces on the map where the number of yers were more than 5. Then focusing on that area, I tried looking out for the people one by one. "Not you. Not you¡­ not you either¡­ Hmmm. It''s like finding a needle in a haystack. Not you either. Nope. Nope. Na," I kept searching as much as possible while also noticing the expression of those people. Some of them were confused at first, while others were excited. Though in the end, all of them were relieved to find a safe ce. Some tried to buy the food around them, while others were enchanted by various items present on the stalls. It didn''t seem like they were much disturbed by the tutorial. Though I still found a couple of people that were showing grief, probably for the people who couldn''t make out of the tutorial. I wonder what kind of face they would make when they would get to know that all those people havee back to life already. And as I was looking through, I found a face. One of the people that I was searching for, a blonde girl wearing a ck cloak simr to mine except the stealth was easily noticeable. Perhaps because of my [Perception], I was able to see through the stealth? Anyways, now that the first part of the hunt is over, let''s move to the next. Jumping off the small apartment, I then began running towards the area where she was walking towards. Even though I lost sight of her as soon as I jumped off the building, I was still able to keep her position in check on the map. And 5 minutester, I found her walking on the street all by herself as she kept checking her surroundings. There was a silver dagger in her hand, that she held on to tightly. ''?'' I observed her from a distance for a few moments before slowly moving towards her. "WHO IS IT?!" She suddenly shouted as she turned around, showing her beautiful face that wasparable to Alice, or perhaps even more than hers. Her golden yellow eyes looked around her trying to see if someone was following her. She can''t see me, but she was still able to sense me, huh? I saw the surrounding people observing her with keen interest, smiling at her and passingments. They waited for a few more seconds, before they moved on with their own work while she kept staring in the empty space in front of her. Though instead of directly appearing in front of her, I created a ck butterfly with my [Illusion] skill. It was a noticeable butterfly that appeared out of thin air in front of her. Though cautios of it, the yellow eyes girl kept it in check as I circled the butterfly around her before making it fly in the nearby empty alley. Understanding that someone was calling her out, she walked behind that ck butterfly with her knife still held tightly in her grip. I made her walk a bit more, until we were much away from the general public. And once we were done with that, "As cautious as ever, huh? It''s been a while you Thieving Cat," I appeared in front of her as I removed my illusion, cloak and mask. Normally I wouldn''t have done that, but this girl was one of the very few people that have helped me in my darkest times. "ADRIAN!!" And her mood changed 180 degrees as a deep smile blossomed on her face and she ran all the way towards me. "It''s AVIDA, you son of a bitch!" -POW! [-20 HP] And punched me really hard as I fell down on the ground. The next second, she jumped over me and sat on my chest, as she looked at me with the same smiling face as before. "So you lived, huh? Didn''t think the first person I would get to see after getting out that hell would be our damned former mastermind. Been a while dude, how you doing these days?" And that''s how our Thief- I mean, Avida, usually greets me. "I could say the same for you. I was hoping to find someone from the back alley days given how messed up the situation is right now, but to think the first person i would find is a small time pickpocketer-" She raised her hand making a fist, before I changed my words immediately¡­ "-I mean the greatest thief of all time. It''s an honor. I am fine by the way," I answered her as she smiled before putting her fist down. Getting off me, she sighed as she looked at me with a deep look. Her eyes turned sad again as she spoke," Adrian. Reban died." My eyes shook for a moment as I looked at her. "It can''t be. That guy is¡­" he was the fighter of our group. One of the best streetfighters among the back alley people. I wasn''t sad that he died given that he woulde back to life but¡­ I believed that he had the most chance of survival in this stupid Apocalypse mess. "What happened?" I asked with my eyes narrowed at her and she spoke with a hint of re in her''s, "We were cornered by a bunch of rats. You know those shittwerps! Their [Gifts!] somehow were in favor with the tutorial''s setting. We fucking tried our best¡­ gave our best¡­ yet¡­ yet¡­" I saw tears appearing in her eyes. I kind of wanted to enjoy the moment of her agony given how many times she had punched me, but I guess I am not that type of person. "He is alive. Rebas, I mean," I told her, making her widen her eyes. She looked at me with a dumbfounded expression as I exined, "Well. You see. My group finished the tutorial 16 hours earlier. And I have been collecting information as much as I could. And it maye as a shock to you but the people who died in the tutoriale back to life here in the safe zone." "YOU! ADRIAN! You¡­ you aren''t lying right?!" And once again, I saw the desperate attempts of hope in her eyes. Rebas was her blood brother, the only person left close to her. I could never understand what she had been through. But at least I am happy that these words that I am speaking aren''t just empty lies. "Nope. There were people who died in our tutorial and I saw them alive here," I answered her, making her even more happy. The tears were still there but they weren''t of sadness anymore. There was pure joy in her eyes as she looked at me with hope and then running close to me she jumped at me again, this time hugging me tightly, as I patted her head silently. But then again¡­ there was a re in my eyes too¡­ as I spoke these words to Avida¡­ "Avida. Can you tell me who those bastards were?" Chapter 53: [Boss!] "Avida. Can you tell me who those bastards were?" She then took a step back, before looking at me with a serious expression. Her eyes narrowed at me with that smile turning serious for a moment before she sighed and then spoke, "No. Let me do it. Or to be precise, me and Rebas. Since he is still alive, I think he would appreciate it if you don''t interfere. Thanks for the concern though, d to see there are still people who would take revenge for us." Hearing her words, I sighed as I nodded at her. What she said was right. Unless it involves me personally, I should let Rebas handle this. It wouldn''t be fair to steal his revenge. "Ah! Evelin was missing you a lot," Avida spoke as she made a smile while I felt shivers down my spine. "Boss? Why? What happened?" I asked in a hurried manner, to which an evil grin formed on Avida''s face as she spoke,"she was speaking of how useful you would have been in a situation like this. She is currently on her way to get a better weapon. Rebas getting killed while she went tracking tickled her off badly, and now she wanted to take revenge so she went to improve her gear." "Is the guy who killed Reba, okay?" Now I was worried about the guy who got Boss on her tail. Seems like I wasn''t really needed here. "Well. They had a big fight but given how everything was favorable for that bastard in that tutorial, the fight was a draw," Avida said and I sighed as well, "Well. Fighting isn''t Boss''s main suit. If she had used tracking abilities, she would have trapped him good enough to kill him a dozen times." Avida shook her head as she agreed,"yeah. But you know how boss is when she is angry." "I guess so," I sighed before speaking," all right. Let''s go meet the boss then. There are a couple of things that I need to tell you all. But let''s do it together." "Ah! I can''t. I actually need to find a skill shop. From what we have collected so far, there should be a skill shop in this ce. I and Invar went to search for a skill shop, while Boss and Levi went to find a good weapon shop," she spoke, which made me think for a brief moment before I continued, "Then let''s find them faster. I know a couple of shops for both." "Wait! How do you know? Did you die too?!" She was shocked but I shook my head before I put my mask again and then erased my presence as I spoke again, "I will tell you everything when we meet the others." She was surprised but she didn''t ask any more questions before she started following the direction of the butterfly that I created. A blue-ck butterfly that left a blue shining hue behind it. ''Since there is only a single weapon shop in the vicinity, I think I know where the boss is,'' I thought as I reached there within the next 10 minutes. I also took a liberty to observe Avida more properly as I wondered what her [Gift] is. Though we had a rule in our group. Unless the front wants to reveal about their personal life, nobody ever asks even a single question. It was one the most important rules that made me stay with the group during a time when I wanted to do nothing with my past life. Also one of the main reasons, I don''t really bother knowing too much about others unless it''s really necessary. "Are you telling me that each of these is 10 Million Points? What the heck are you talking about?!!! Do you have any idea how much trouble I had to go through to earn that many points?!" A shout came from inside of the shop. And based on the familiarity of the voice, it was pretty easy to distinguish who was inside there. "Mam! I know you have justpleted the tutorial but please understand that their prices are pretty cheap for the functions they offer. Any other ce, you may not even get these at even 20 million points," the shopkeeper spoke with a rather troubled expression. His eyes looked at Boss for a few seconds before looking at the customer who silently left the shop without speaking a word. I looked at the ck haired girl Emily, our boss. She was a 24 year old woman with long ck hair just like Alice. Thoughpared to Alice who was much more calm and collected, our Boss ran mostly on emotions and rules made by thest boss. They were her bible testaments in a way, causing various conflicts on her emotional values. Though, if not for thest boss, her emotions would have been pretty much abused everywhere, so I guess it was a good thing? "BOSSS!!" Avida raised her hand high up in the air while I removed my mask. Since there wasn''t anyone else, I removed my illusion partially so that only Boss and Avida could see me. Even if there were a few people looking from the outside, they would only see boss and Avida arguigin with the shopkeeper. "Avida? Huh? Why are you here? Dd you- Huh? Adrian? Oh! That''s why," Boss spoke as she reached the conclusion pretty fast before I put on the mask again while removing the Illusion,ing in the presence of the Shopkeeper as well. "Why the mask? Anyways! Here! Which one should I choose and for how much price?" She then pushed on two items in front of me, in each of her hands. [Amulet of the Wanderer! Grade: B Effects: -Decreases the chances of getting lost on the path! -Increases the eye sight of the user, allowing them to see 5 miles ahead! -Path of Return: Creates a path to a knownnd where the user has visited at least once!] [Cost: 10 Million Points!] [Crossbow of Simplicity! Grade: C Effects: +40 Strength! +30 Agility! +For every 10 Arrows shot, the bow shoots an elemental arrow containing an additional power of 50% of the base attack of the crossbow!] [Cost: 8 Million Points!] "Both are bad," I gave out my answer based on all the things that I have observed up until now. Hearing my words, Boss sighed as she looked at me with a thankful gaze before passing the two things back to the shopkeeper. That guy though didn''t like what I said as he red at me before speaking, "Hey! Are you downgrading my products? Who the heck even are you?!!" "The amulet is good but with a [Map!] artifact which costs barely 200,000 Points and any C-Grade skill or above that is rted to eye-sight, anyone can get 3 times more effects for less than 10 percent of the cost," I started with the amulet first. Then moving on to the crossbow, "And everyone knows that C-Grade weapons cost in the range of 500,000 to 1 Million points. Nothing more than that." His eyes widened for a few moments before he gritted his teeth. Unable to refute my words, he just red at me before I spoke to Boss, "I know a weapon shop. It''s called [Pristine''s Shop!] which will sell you some good artifacts and weapons. Though it''s a bit costly, I think we can find some proper goods there." Hearing that, the Boss smiled widely as she nodded before she started leaving from there. Ignoring the shopkeeper, who looked like he was nning something ominous, we left from there. I think I heard ''You dare not fail the tutorial. Or else, I will personally make things hell for you,'' which made me sigh again. Getting involved with boss always results in some form of conflict. It wasn''t something that I got used to even after going through a dozen times or more. "Hey Adrian! We are going for a hunt!" Boss, Evelin, spoke as she looked at me with a deep look. This was the most serious she has been ever since thest boss got killed. It reminded me of some bitter sweet memories of the past. Though knowing the reason why she was making that face, I could only look at her with a troubled expression. "You know me boss. I don''t like to get involved," I answered her with a deep sigh. I was expecting this already. "Rebas is dead," a sudden re boiled up inside her eyes, to which I looked at Avida and spoke," you exin. I will look around for the others," before I observed the map again and began searching for Invar and Levi''s name. Given that I have confirmed that they are around here, I shouldn''t have any problem locating them on the map here as well. Previously I did not know if they would even appear here, so I didn''t bother checking the map as doing it manually would be much better. But now that I know that they are here, and nearby, I can exploit the [Map!] to find out where they could be. While I searched for the rest of them, Avida exined what I told her to Boss. Boss was shocked at first to hear that, but when she heard that I was the one who told her, she believed it immediately. A smile blossomed on her face as she kept asking the same questions multiple times, smiling even more each time Avida answered. Then the conversation went on how I met her and a couple of things that I talked about with Avida. "All right. I found the others. They are close so let''s go," I interrupted them, to which they nodded before we three started walking in the direction where the closest person was. Chapter 54: [Meeting with the Old Group!] "Hey kid! Good to see you alive! You need any weapons?" Invar spoke with a big smile. "Adrian. You don''t have anyone troubling you, do you? Ah! Also, there are some people that I need you to find information about," Levi asked with a concerned expression, while he observed from top to bottom. Invar was a 30 years old muscr man. He had a bit tanned skin, with navy blue hair and deep ocean blue eyes. Wearing a blue white kimono and carrying two swords on his side, he looked like a samurai from the historic ages. He was our friendly uncle who dwelled in all sorts of machinery and weapons. He was our weapon maker and weapon dealer back then. Pretty famous if you ask me. Levi was of simr age but much thinner inparison, a bit on the athletic side. Wearing a in white shirt over ck pants, he looked much more simpler than ever. If not for his white hair and bright blue eyes, he could have easily pulled that average persona he usually tries to be. Levi was awork manager. He was our hacker that collected information from various sources online, though his sources weren''t limited online but also to the outside world sometimes. Consequently, he was also an introvert that didn''t like to interact much outside the group, hence I was the source of information from outside much of the time. I looked at the four of them with a deep sigh, while the four of them looked at me with a nonchnt look. "All right. Let me start with everything that I have collected up until now," I spoke as I started telling them about the tutorial and what they are. Invar and Levi were so shocked with the ''return from dead'' thing that they asked me about it in detail. Still, based on how much I understood, I exined it in simpler words to clear their confusion. Then I told them about the skill limit, which made them look at their own skill set. I pondered over a few seconds before asking them to leave the problem of finding that [Skill Remover!] artifact to me, which they agreed without much problem. I then asked them about their preferred weapons and budget. Their [Gift] type and what type of [Skills] they were looking out for, to which they pondered before giving out their preferences. It wasn''t much outside of what I expected so I noted them out in brief. "All right. That should be enough. You guys really did get a lot, eh?" I spoke as I saw them earning 5-10 million points each. "How about you? How many points did you get?" Avida asked with her eyes narrowed to which I answered,"let''s not get too personal, shall we? I didn''t do much anyway. Just enough to barely survive." "I think it''s more than 10 million," Levi spoke as he observed my face. "Are you kidding me? It''s this cunning mastermind kid we are talking about. He must have found a loophole or something¡­ I think it''s about 50 million," Invar joined in. "He could easily judge the price of something that''s B-Grade and A-Grade, so he must have looked into it¡­ it''s more than 50 million,"Avida joined as she observed my face. With a helpless look on my face, I turned to Boss for some help as I asked,"Boss. You believe me right?" "Is it really 50 million?" Though she was doubting me instead. Standing up as I have already got everything that I wanted from the conversation for now, I then looked at them with a refreshed look. "Let''s meet again in about 6 hours. Don''t take any skills or weapons as I will be taking care of that. Meanwhile, either you can rx in a hotel or go to the [Training Camp!], to get ustomed to this world," I spoke as I observed them. "I will rx," Levi spoke while Avida added,"I will be searching for Rebas." Meanwhile Invar and Boss chose to go to the [Training Camp!]. "Avida, keep the search near that area and Levi, there is a good hotel [Misc!] there with a lot ofputers and simr stuff. It''s a bit high-tech so you will love it. All right then, let''s meet again in 6 hours near the [Training Camp!]," I spoke as they all nodded before I erased my presence once again. They had already given me 8 million points each for the purchase so I didn''t need to take it out of my pocket. Though before visiting that ce, there was something that I needed to check. As I was about to leave, I heard my friends talking once again. "That bastard. He surely is something else. Things were going in a random direction before this¡­ but as soon as he joined in, everything itself filled in the right ce. I feel so much rxed now," Avida rxed, while Invar nodded. "He is our little mastermind after all. He sees things 10s of steps ahead. Sometimes I forget he is just a child," he added while Levi made an irritated face. "I don''t understand why he left us? He could have be our leader. No offense, Boss," Levi spoke out. Boss red at Levi but didn''t say anything. Seemingly she too agreed with Levi there. Meanwhile I just sighed as I walked away from there. It wasn''t something that they talked about for the first time, but I wasn''t suited for the role of leader. I am someone who likes to work alone for the most part. I do my own thing while trying to reach a conclusion where I can rx and retire. I could support a team maybe, but lead them? Nah! Boss was more suited for something like that. Anyways, I then ran towards the edge of the safe city, where people with heavy gears were standing. There was a variety of people, from beggars on the side to caravan of the rich. There were adventurers to protect those caravans and more of them who were going on a hunt. ''All right. Emily told me that the weakest monster here was D-Grade, huh?'' I thought as I observed the [Map!] to see the closest monster which was about a mile away from here. It was a lone monster, probably separated from the group or something. -Whoosh! And then ignoring the people here, I then ran towards the forest. [You have left the Safe City: Azkaban! The Safe protection is now deactivated!] With my [Parkour!] activated over my 72 Agility, I ran as fast as possible towards that monster. And 15 minutester, I found a wolf-like monster with two long teeths. [Twin Guns: Burst Mode!] -BOOM!! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Fanged Wolf!] [+5000 Points!] [+1250 GM Points!] ''So it''s really true, huh? The points earned here are only 10% of what you earned in Tutorial,'' I sighed as I really missed the chance to kill that Boss Monster. I wonder how much he could have been worth. ''Though on the bright side, the GM Points were still the same,'' a bright smile appeared on my face as I changed the mode of the [Twin Guns] to [Twin des!] And taking a look around the area¡­ [Your [Gift!] has increased by 1 Grade!] There wasn''t any change in the description of the [Gift], but on a closer look, the information of the monsters and the yers were more urate now. If previously, I could only look at their genders and minor stuff, I could now look at their power level inparison to mine. It also showed the grade of the monsters¡­ another weed change. Well, it was just a start. I then located the next few monsters in the area and began moving towards them at faster speed. -Whoosh! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Flying Frey!] [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Blue Eyed Felix!] [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Marrow Kobold!] [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Nest Worm!] [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: White nt Eater!] ¡­ [Luke''s POV!] "Kid. Are you sure that it is the best course of action?" I asked as he looked at the [Training Camp!] in front of me. I heard a lot of things from that rich brat I met in the park, and following his words, I bought a bunch of training gear that would boost my growth in the next 24 hours. "We would have gone to the outer area to hunt real monsters, but you will die in less than a minute so we need to take the next most appropriate course of action," the kid, Hamilton, spoke as he looked at the [Training Camp!]. "Well. It''s not like I have any better ideas," I said observing the camp before looking at the people around me. There were some people that I have seen in the city, and few from my high school as well. Looking at Tristan and Reyan, I sighed. It seems like people really doe back to life here. Just how much did I mess up? I sighed as I was too over my head with all that power¡­Well. I will be working alone from now on¡­ "But wouldn''t it be better to be better geared?" I asked as I looked at the dozens of different weapons in my backpack. They were all training wooden gears that might break within a few draws. Though Hamilton urged me to buy them, I decided to go along with it. "What you would learn here is not how to control a weapon. You already know how to. But instead, we will focus on two things. First is to make you learn how to utilize mana within your body and pour it into the weapons that don''t use mana. The second is to make you learn basic [Art] of all the weapons, so that you will utilize it with better weapons without breaking them," he said, making me nod. I guess he was right. I was wondering what those [Arts] meant in my [Gift]. Well, ording to Hamilton, these are special weapon skills that you can perform to get 2 to 3 times more powerful strikes. These are a series ofbination attacks that one can perform resulting in much more powerful attacks than one normally would do when rashly hitting. They were faster, more precise, more strong. Depending upon the number of strikes, they can even be deadly and can kill a target within 10 strikes. Sometimes they even ignore defenses if performed with uracy and focus. And given how my gift increases the effects of those arts by 4 times, I couldn''t help but look forward to this training. [Gift: One with the Weapon! Grade: Upper Mortal Grade-2 Effects: -Increase the attack power of the weapon of the user by 800% of strength! -The user will be able to use the weapons with 40% increased proficiency! -Minor Chance to unlock a skill of the weapon when it is used over a period of time! -Easier to learn [Art!] of any weapon! All [Weapon Art!] will have a 400% increased effect!] Chapter 55: [Training Camp!] [In the Training Camp!] [Mark''s POV!] Aiming with the basic wooden bow, I then looked at the iing flying targets in front of me. I then pulled the bow with all my might and shot the three arrows at them. -Puck! -Puck! -Puck! The three targets broke down in mid air, before I shot another three, breaking three more targets. And then before I could shoot another three, thest 4 targets crossed by me, resulting in failure. ''6, huh? Should I work on speed or increase the number of arrows at a time?'' I thought as if I increased the number I can shoot more enemies at once, while increasing the speed would result me killing monsters faster. "That''s so cool! You can shoot three arrows at once!" A girl with long ck hair looked at me with her eyes brightened up. She looked a bit older, around 25 or something. Reminded me of Alice if not for that different personality of hers. "Well. I have been thinking of using 5 arrows at once, but I was wondering if I should go for faster speed instead?" I spoke out my dilemma, to which she made a confused expression. "Isn''t it easy? You should always speed over numbers. We are going to face stronger enemies in the future, so it will always be better to kill them before they reach us," she said, making me realize that she was right. As the strength and the speed of the monster increases, it doesn''t matter if there were 5 monster of 50. If they are too fast, I would die before I could even draw a single arrow. "But what if there were multiple weak monsters?" Another person appeared behind that ck haired girl, a nay blue haired bulky man in his mid thirties. He was tanned and wore a kimono with two swords tied to his waist. Reminds me of a Samurai. ''Damn he is cool!'' I thought as my eyes glittered a little observing those swords. "Unless he is working alone, I don''t think there would be a problem as long as he has a party member who has an area damage rted skill," that girl spoke again, while both the Samurai guy and I nodded at her words. "All right, Boss. Check if this works for you so that I can go check my own thing," that guy spoke as he looked at the swords before that girl nodded and then took out a crossbow from her back. She then set the target number to 100, before aiming her crossbow in that direction. And then pressing start, she saw 10 targetsing towards her at a rapid speed. -Tur! Tur! Tur! Tur! Tur! -Put! Put! Put! Put! Put! Half the targets were blown away while the rest half crossed the mid section. She the focused even more as her eyes narrowed and then the speed of the crossbow increased and¡­. -Tur! X 5 -Put! X 5 And within a single second, 5 of those targets broke down within the next second, as 10 more appeared. She shot again and those targets broke down into pieces once more. The next second 20 more appeared and 20 more dissappeared into pieces¡­ I saw the speed of the iing target increasing instentanously each time the targets were broken. But as if she already knew where those targets were going toe from, she broke them all down within the next few moments. And not even 10 secondster, I saw a perfect score on the board as she looked at it with a beaming smile on her face, while I could only observe with my eyes wide open. "Don''t take it to heart, kid. Hunting with a crossbow was a favorite sport of our Boss. With the added stats of the tutorial the absurdity has only increased," that samurai guy spoke with a knowing smile before he looked at the girl and asked, "Boss. Are you going to increase your speed, too?" "Not really. I can do better with a higher grade Crossbow. Plus, I trust him. He will get me something that increases both my speed and my firepower¡­ So for now, I would be increasing something that I need even more than that. I will be increasing my Precision and uracy," she said, making me perk up my ears even more. It seems like they have put much more thought in this than we could have done so. And since she told me to focus on my speed, I guess I will be doing that for the time being. "Thank you for your advice," I bowed politely to which they smiled and nodded before the Samurai guy spoke," all right, Boss. I will be leaving then. See you in 6 hours." And then he left from there, leaving me and that ''Boss'' girl behind, as we both went back to our own practice. ¡­ [Julia''s POV!] -sh! sh! sh! "Julia! Your turn!" Samantha spoke as she cut down the vines of those giant nt monster, exposing his red core that he has been hiding. I took out a throwing knife as I applied a certain [Skill!] that I learnt in the Tutorial that worked well with my [Gift!]. [Blood Poison Applied to the Weapon: Throwing Knife!] [Gift: Poison Nature has been activated!] [The Poison''s Grade has increased by 1!] [The Effect of the poison has increased by 100%!] [The duration of the Poison has increased by 100%] That throwing knife reached all the way to the core, attacking the monster. I don''t know the potency of the increased poison, but given it was a weakening type poison that restricts once power, I guess an increased version of that poison should make the enemy weak enough to be taken down by my team members. "WE GOT A HIT! EVERYONE ATTACK!" Olivia shouted as she created a huge fireball in the air. She learnt this skill from the [Tutorial!], and was somehow able to increase its grade by one. She said that it was rted to her [Gift] that allowed her to understand the nature of the mana skills that she used. That way she could use it to understand and improve the mana skills that she had. Resulting in a more powerful version of the skill. In fact, if someone that was least affected by the [Skill Limit!], it was her as the rest of us had at least 4 or 5 of our Slots filled with useless basic skills. Others followed Olivia''s call as they too began throwing in their attacks at that monster. It was good training to improve our timing and coordination, as for the next 24 hours we wanted to be as connected as possible. ''Though I still think, we should also learn how to function alone,'' I thought as I wondered ways to improve my individual strength. Certainly increased poison efficiency wasn''t really the best set in the arsenal to go solo. Though the guy who could have answered my concern¡­ Adrian. I was d he was alive but¡­. Just where was he right now? On that note, my eyes looked at the two boys who were standing outside the training area. Tristan told me how he died at the beginning of the tutorial, right after we got out of the highschool safe zone. I remember him being defensive against Adrian, but that just because of the rumors surrounding Adrian on how he was in the mafia before. It was funny now that we think about it. But Reyan¡­ he didn''t die until muchter in the tutorial. There was no reason for him to bad mouth Adrian or get jealous of what he has or what he doesn''t have. I am d that there wasn''t an infight between them but¡­. As much as I have seen Reyan, he would have surely killed Adrian if he got the chance to. ''Or perhaps not kill but cripple?'' I sighed as I wasn''t any better either. Being in mind control of that monster or not, what I did was wrong. Should I even be forgiven? And was I worth- "JULIA!!" Shouted Samantha as she jerked my body, waking me up from my thought process. "Uh! Sorry!" I apologized. "It''s okay. Just don''t think much about it. I know that mind control thing has given you PTSD but please remember that you have friends with you, okay? Baby! We don''t wanna lose you!" She spoke as she looked at me with a worried expression. -p! I then pped my cheeks(face) tightly as I looked at them with a determined expression. "Sorry girls. I waste. Let''s get back to work, shall we?" I spoke out loud with a confident voice. "Yay! Let''s go!" The girls shouted as she looked at me with a bright smile before we all went back to the main area where we were going to restart the entire fight, trying to finish it within half the time we took this time. I took onest look at Tristan and Reyan. They were asking if they could join my group, but all the girls disagreed. Adrian is an exception because of his nature and power, but now that we have reached this point, we want to keep this group made up of girls only. ''Well. I will help them out for the sake of friendship, but I guess I should advise them to find their own method in this whole mess without depending upon the others,'' I thought as I then moved with the girls for another round of fight. Chapter 56: [Hunting!] [Adrian''s POV!] -Whoosh! Running through the forest, I found a giant two headed monster with a huge club in his hand. Looking at the single horn on each of his faces and that mud brown skin color, I think it must be the ogre from legends. And ording to the [Map!] he is slightly stronger than me. -Whoosh! -Whoosh! Dashing on the left, then on the right, I then ran up the trees before reaching in range. Then creating an illusion of myself standing in front of him, I made him target that ''Adrian'' illusion. ''Let''s see if it works.'' He first narrowed his eyes at ''Adrian'' before making an angry expression. And then moving towards it once step a time. -Thud! Thud! Thud! Reaching ''Adrian'' with those heavy steps, I saw it raising that club high up in the air. ''All right.'' Looking at my chance, I started jumping towards the tree closer to the ogre, before positioning my next jump so that my trajectory would pass right above his head. -BOOOM!! Meanwhile that ogre hit the ground as ''Adrian'' illusion dodged his attack, before jumping on his hand and started running towards his face before pointing his guns at that ogre. Panicking, that ogre tried to cover his face with his other hand. That ogre even created a shield covering his hand, while the illusion vanished right before reaching his face, making him confused for a second. As for me, I had already jumped and positioned myself right above his head. With my gun point nk, I then changed the form to [Burst Mode!] and then¡­ -BOOOM!!!! Hit in between his two heads, right at his spine area before Inded on a tree branch on the other side. To my surprise, that attack was changed into electricity, shocking his entire body, as he began burning right there, before I found his body beginning to shake vigorously. And after a few seconds of getting zapped, it fell down on the ground, lifeless as I heard a ting sound of a message appeared in front of me. [Electric Effect Added: Ignore the Defense of the Target!] [Critical Hit! Attack +200%!] [You have killed the C-Grade Monster: Horned Twin-Headed Ogre!] [+20,000 Points!] [+5,000 GM Points!] ''A C-Grade, huh? Well, that wasn''t that hard,'' I thought as it took a bit of nning to secure a clear win. I already knew it but this Illusion skill is going to be perfect for misdirection in battles. With this, I might even finish the enemy before I even need to participate in the battle. Totally worth it! [GM Points: 364,910!] With the increased number of D-Grade monsters about 5 kilometers away from the city, I was able to kill 50-60 monsters within the first hour. And about 100 of them in the second. Each of them gave about 500 to 1000 GM points, so it was a good source for the time being. "Now. Should I create another skill? Something that would be the foundation for the rest of my skills?" I thought as I pondered about something that would work in all situations. A physical skill would be limited to physical aspects, while a mana won''t help my physical aspect. A mind based skill? I don''t know¡­ hmmm how about this then¡­ [elerated Learning! Grade: S Effects: -Allows the user to think 100 times faster without any drawback! -Allows the user toprehend things 1,000% faster! -Allows the user to have aplete focus, increasing theprehension to at least 10 times faster. The user will learn anything 100 times faster! -Allows the user to recall anything with 100% proficiency!] [Would you like to create the skill for 700 Million GM Points?] "Now, let''s see the B-Grade Version of the skill," I thought as I simply changed the Grade from S to B. [elerated Learning! Grade: B Effects: -Allows the user to think 10 times faster! A headache will be induced based on the amount of time the user uses this skill! -Allows the user toprehend things 100% faster! -Increases the Focus of the user by 100%! -Increases the Learning proficiency by 50%!] [Would you like to create the skill for 2 Million GM Points?] ''Stil too much, huh?'' I thought before making a few more changes for the time being. [elerated Thinking! Grade: C Effects: -Allows the user to think 10 times faster! A headache will be induced based on the amount of time the user uses this skill! The headache will be reduced by 5% for each Wisdom Point the user has!] [Would you like to create the skill for 200,000 GM Points?] The cost was reduced but so was the effect. Though, I guess it was fine given that I still had roughly 3 more hours to hunt. I should use this time to collect enough GM points before I could start preparing the weapons that I promised my friends. ''It''s going to be a long night, I suppose?'' I thought as I nned toe back here again during the night and hunt all night to get as much GM Points as I could. I wanted to take at least one of my created skills to A-Grade before I entered the next tutorial. ¡­ [Avida''s POV!] "REBAS!!!" I shouted as I finally found the guy I was looking for. Rebas saw me with a calm smile as he waved back before moving towards me one step at time. Rebas was a 27 years old man with dark red hair. He was a pervert who loved to fight and was a maniac for anything fighting rted. He had a slightly tanned skin, and usually wore tight clothes that showed his tight gripped muscles, because of which girls usually tried to fawn over him all the time. I ran towards him and -BOOOM!!! Hit his face, which he blocked like usual. Bastard. "Just where the heck were you? Why didn''t youe find us all this time?" I was irritated. If not for Adrian, we might have just kept on weeping on his death, while he would have been freely roaming for god knows how long. "Well," heughed in a low chuckle before speaking," I actually found a tournament nearby and was enthralled by it. I participated in it and was busy for the past 2 days fighting those- -BOOOM!!! "You son of a bitc-" "I won 20 Million Points from there." "My best buddy! Do you know how much I was worried about you?" I smiled as I changed my expression within a fraction of a second. Well, if he earned that much then I don''t mind if he disappeared for 2 days. Heck he can disappear for a week if he can make that 100 million. "Haha. You never change, huh? How are the others? Are they all right?" Rebas asked with a cheeky smile, though beneath that friendly expression, I saw a re hidden asking if we were okay. Rebas was that kind of guy. Even if he died, he wouldn''t give a dime as long as the fight was entertaining. But if his teammates or people he cared about¡­ if something happens to them. Then all hell will break loose¡­ "We are okay. We survived and then met Adrian in the safe zone-" as I was about to tell him everything that happened, his eyes widened as he interrupted "Adrian! Where is he? It''s been forever since I met him. Is that kid okay? Wait! What am I even asking¡­ How is he doing now?" He was excited as he held me by my shoulders while he kept asking dozens of questions at once. "L.. Leave MY FUCKING SHOULDER!!" I shouted as I tried punching him -BOOM! But he blocked it again. Bastard. Though since he left my shoulder, I messaged them a bit. "Fucking monster bastard. Control your strength. It hurts, damn it!" I red at him. Can''t he treat me like a woman or something? Wait! I will hate that even more. I then red at him again as heughed out loud before apologizing, "Sorry. Sorry. I got too excited. So how is our little mastermind? I bet he is taking control of anything and everything around him again." I looked at him before sighing, "Yeah. As irritating as it may be, he seemed to have everything within his control again." "Isn''t that the best? With him, more than half of our problems are solved. Man. I wish to meet him again¡­ he is the best when I need to find someone to fight to my heart''s content," Rebas spoke with his smile widening. Weirdo. "All right. We are going to meet again in about 5 hours from now on. And since I found you, I will be going to the [Training Camp!] to train now. Wanna join in?" I asked him as his eyes glittered before he asked, "Will there be more people to fight?" "Probably, I answered," before he smiled and answered," let''s go then." ¡­ [Alice''s POV!] ''I know I need to control my powers and stuff, but the question is how to? There should be some way to make my powers more refined, right?'' I thought as I sat in the park outside the [Training Camp!]. Even though I understand that the time I have here is limited, I must first figure out what exactly I need to do to improve myself. "Are you Miss Alice?" A voice called me out from behind. Looking back, there were two girls, white as snow, wearing a royal blue coloured dress over in white one piece. They had some form of patterns on their hands and on the clothes from which a certain energy could be felt. And from the atmosphere they were carrying around themselves they didn''t seem like you average NPCs. "I am," I answered with a bit of cautious, to which both the girls sighed in relief before speaking, "Miss Alice. We are here to bring you to our Highness, the Queen of the Winter Elves, on behalf of the message by our Goddess, the Ice Empress." Chapter 57: [Behind the Scenes!] [Adrian''s POV!] [GM Points: 533,121!] With [elerated Thinking!] I was able to kill more monsters than I was hoping to target. "With this much, I can make something good for Boss and Invar. As for Avida and Levi¡­ I think a skill would be better for them than an artifact," I gave it a bit of a thought before moving towards the city. The meeting time was still about an hour away so I didn''t have to worry about gettingte. But still let''s hurry, just in case. Another good thing that happened was [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Lower Mortal Grade - 2 Experience till next Grade: 55.00% (137.5/250 Square Miles) Effect: -Allows the user to createyered mental maps based on what he has observed! The user can switch between differentyers at will! -Marks all the living beings on the Map with their respective colors!! -Minor information about unknown yers (name, gender, etc) will be disyed. -All known information about any buildings or structures will be avable! -Known information about the yers will be avable! -Allows the user to Mark 10 movable targets! ] I was able to increase the grade of my [Gift!] by 2 more levels. The next level was even harder and it''s gonna get worseter but now that I was at this point, I was hoping to increase the grade beyond [Lower Mortal Grade!]. I wonder what effects I would unlock if I do that? Anyways, as I ran back towards the city, I kept thinking about the type of effects I should apply on Boss and Invar''s weapons. Boss asked me for a Crossbow that''s easy to use, while Invar wanted another katana that could go along with his current two. Since his swords were able to draw out Fire and Ice mana in each, I was thinking of going with a third elemental effect. But then I had another idea¡­ something that Invar would love more than that¡­ -Whoosh! Increasing my speed, I then ran faster as I jumped down the tree branch and began sprinting with all my might. -Whoosh! ''Maybe I should base off my second skill on Agility? Or maybe something superhuman that could increase all my physical abilities at once?'' I gave it a bit of thought before I saw a part of my [System!] [Body Type: Mortal!] ''Hmmm. Maybe I won''t need a skill? But let''s not rush to judge on that. We need to find out what that is, before we move to any conclusion,'' I sighed before putting it at the back of my mind. I will find my answers soon. -sh! -sh! [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Fanged Wolf!] [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Fanged Wolf!] Running through the forest as I killed a couple more monsters, it took me about 20 minutes before I reached back to the main city. Crossing the main gate, I ran through the city from one part to another, until I reached the shop from where I could get the best weapons possible in the city. "All right. Let''s finish this task. I have a lot to prepare for the tutorial for tomorrow," I thought as I then entered the shop, moving towards the section where crossbows were sold. ¡­ [Location: ???!] In an unknown location, there was a huge roundtable, with 12 seats ced at equal distance around the table. Each of those seats were numbered, with 8 of the seats empty. "How far are the preparations going on for the Tutorial Level 4?" From seat number 11, a feminine voice appeared as a girl wearing a ck cloak asked the questions. The seat 9,6 and 4 looked at her before seat 9 spoke, "We have spread the disease to a certain degree. Now we just need to wait for the yers to join in, and we can connect the tutorial to the first Floor 1." He was a giant man, about 3 times much taller than a normal human with his body on the bulkier side. Unlike the cloaked woman, he was wearing a white dress that covered his entire body except his face. "Seems like we can finally takeplete control of the entire Tower now. Finally, we can break through this hell," Seat 6, a tall man with blue hair spoke as he looked at the ceiling. Though the seat 11, looked at him with a narrowed gaze before she spoke, "Let''s not get too over our heads. The administrator of the Tutorial and the First Floor aren''t someone we can take lightly. Plus there are those two as well. The Soul of the First Floor and the Crown Prince of the Night. We must make sure that there are no disturbances." "Ah! My apologies! You are correct. But still, we shouldn''t be too worried about the weak insects so much. The main problem, the tower system, as long as we breach that. There should be no problem whatsoever," Seat 6 spoke as he smiled with a wide grin on his face. "Speaking of insects. Are there any yers we should worry about?" Seat 9 asked, to which Seat 11 turned on the hologram showing 4 faces. "That guy is an Immortal Grade. Percy Millton. Then these two are Heaven''s grade, one is Alice and this one is Timber. From what I have collected, we need to be most careful about Alice because she got a contract from the Gods," she spoke as she briefed them about the people on the screen. Though they were shocked, they didn''t make much fuss about it. After all, each of the seats were minimum Immortal Grade, with half of them having Half-Mythical Grade. Their Leader, Seat 1, one of the extremely rare beings in the entire tutorial was a Mythical Grade. "What about him? Who is he?" Seat 4, the girl who was quite up until now, looked at the nk face of thest guy. Only his name was present on the screen. "His name is Crowley. Though we know nothing more than that about him. His grade, his powers, his skill, nothing at all. Madam Tel''s Skill of Complete Knowledge couldn''t provide any knowledge about him either. If not for matching with the information rted to that I stole from the [Admin''s List!], I wouldn''t even know about his existence," spoke seat 11, making the others narrow their eyes at Adrian. "Do we know where he is now?" Seat 9 asked. "No. If we want to find him, I believe none of the search skills would work. We might need to manually go down to the First Floor and look into him," Seat 11 answered as her eyes looked at that name again. "Should I go? He seems to be someone who can interfere with our ns?" Even the Seat 6, who was generally nonchnt, turned serious as he looked at Adrian''s name. "No. You will be needed to stop the Admin of Floor 27. He won''t like anyone interfering with Nora. 11. Since you are going to watch over this whole n along with 3, make sure to check this one out. And if possible, see if you can scout him first. Since he could bypass even Madam Tell''s system, he could be very useful for our ns," Seat 4 spoke out, making everyone nod at her politely. Seat 11 vanished first, and then Seat 9. Finally 6, leaving Seat 4 all by herself. Seat 4 looked at the name, Crowley, with her eyes flickering for a bit before she sighed. A message appeared in front of her eyes, before a sudden glint of a smile appeared on her face. [You are not Authorized to look at the Stats of the Target!] "Interesting," she mumbled as she kept staring at the name in front of her. ¡­ [Nora''s POV!] Standing alone at the top of the central tower, I once again found myself rather lonely. It''s not like there wasn''t anyone to talk with but after losing people for over thousands of times, I wonder if there is any meaning to this existence of mine? "I knew, you would be here," ir, the admin of the first floor, spoke as she walked towards me. Turning around, I tried to give a calm smile. Perhaps I was used to silence, I didn''t answer her words. "I know it''s hard. Given how this whole tower functions, there is nothing we can do. But please don''t forget that it is our destiny given by the tower to us. Without it, we are nothing," she spoke words that somehow made me lose that smile. "So losing my husband because the tower promoted him to a higher floor was our destiny? And the fact that I can never leave this ce and he can never leave that, was something that I should just ept, huh?" I asked her. A rtionship thatsted a millenia was destroyed because the tower decided that my husband is better suited for a higher floor. It disgusted me. I could neither live nor die. I can only suffocate as I see the entire world functioning as if nothing changed. Even if I try to kill myself, the tower would issue quests to yers who would eventually fix the problem and save me. "Perhaps, it was?" ire spoke as a re boiled up inside me. But then it slowly died down as I looked at her and spoke, "I was once like you, ir. Following everymand by the system without breaking a sweat. But trust me ire, the day it takes something extremely important from you, you too will break into pieces." ir looked at me with a sigh, not understanding my words as she slowly turned around. "Meet me at the edge of the floor. There is another dent appearing," she spoke as she vanished from there, while I wondered again, "Just how long do I need to suffer like this?" Chapter 58: [Volume 2: Epilogue!] [In the Park outside the Training Camp!] A group of odd balls were collected. A Samurai, a girl with long ck hair, a white haired thin man, a cloaked blonde, a red haired muscr man with a broadsword and a guy with a Crow mask. "With that done. I will be leaving now," the boy with the crow mask spoke as he left from there, vanishing from sight, leaving everyone to look at the area where he was with a nk expression. "Hey Rebas. Weren''t you excited to meet him?" Avida asked with a fear filled voice as she gulped before looking at the skill that she received from Adrian/Crowley right now. "Are you kidding me? Did you see that grin behind that mask of his? Just what is he nning now to make him that happy? And what''s with these absurd skills? When did our little guy be this generous?" Rebas answered Avida''s question with a dozen more questions. "You don''t think he is going to start a war, right? He can''t be that crazy¡­ right?" Levi spoke turning to Boss, hoping she would deny his words but she looked in the empty space where Adrian was before speaking, "It can''t be too far off. He is pretty fair when ites to equivalent exchange, and no matter how I look at it, these A-Grade skills and weapons aren''t something that you can buy with mere 10 million points. The effects are as if they are tailored to our needs." "Then that means, he is nning something that will make us required to use this weapon, huh? Well, I just hope we didn''t bite too much. Perhaps living away from him for far too long, I forgot why he was able to survive in the back alley despite being a young child," Invar spoke as he observed his sword. There was no doubt that he liked it, in fact he loved it too much. Just that¡­ Adrian isn''t exactly kind. If he is going out of his way to do a favor to you, he will at least make use of you in equal ways. That was his way of doing things. Even his teammates weren''t given a discount. "Sigh¡­ Well. Whatever. As long as we can have some fun and not die, I think it''s fine to take this. It''s not like it''s a bad thing, right?" Avida tried to cheer herself up but looking at the absurd skill in her hands, the ominous feeling resurfaced as she wondered if she should take this one or not. Though in the end, they all epted it as they knew that if Adrian was cooking something, it''s not going to be small in anyways. Even if they don''t take it, they would get involved one way or another. They just hoped that nothing would go overboard this time¡­ hopefully. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] As I walked away from my old group, I saw a certain girl arguing with two boys. The argument seems to have heated up as the girl pped the boy before moving away from them. I firstughed at the two boys for a few seconds before looking at that girl who was fast walking without any direction. In her eyes, there were some tears, but mostly rage was present all over her face. Moving closer to that girl, I followed her for a few seconds as she stopped in her steps. She seemed to be muttering something slowly, as she wiped her tears before she pped her cheeks(face) and then with a determined expression she observed the area in front of her. Removing my mask and illusion, I then walked towards her before moving beside her as I heard her speaking, "I am going to show them. I can be strong too!" "Who said you aren''t?" I spoke as I smiled at her. -EEEEK! She shouted as she turned to me, before she observed my face. Her eyes widened as she looked at me carefully before she spoke,"A-A-Adrian! What are you doing here?!!" "Nothing. Just passing by," I answered her as she looked at me with a mix of emotions before she realized something, "Wait! Did you hear that?!!" "What?" I feigned ignorance, as she sighed in relief before she moved closer to me and asked," Nothing. Nothing at all. What about you? Where are you? Everyone was talking about you? Are you okay?" Her eyes turned a bit sad as she looked at me. Though I smiled as I spoke, "Yeah. I somehow survived. Been doing all sorts of things. Sorry for not being able to meet you till now." She nodded as she spoke,"it''s okay. Just you being alive is enough. Are you going to join the group now? We are staying in-" "Ah! No. Actually, I have my own thing going on. I will meet you guys in Tutorial 4, okay?" I interrupted her, making her observe me with a sudden look. Her eyes turned sad for a moment before she cheered up and spoke,"is that so? Then we will wait for you." I nodded before speaking," all right then. I will be taking my leave now. Say hi to Mark from me. Tell him that I will meet him in the next tutorial." And then taking one step away, I was just about to move but I felt somebody stopping my hand. Turning around, I found Julia''s hand stopping me. Her head was down as she spoke in a low voice, "Please¡­ don''t go¡­" Though feigning ignorance, I asked," what happened?" "It''s¡­ I was wondering if you could help me find a weapon that suits my gift?" She had her head down still. Though I pondered before asking about what her gift was. Slowly raising her head, she then looked at me with her expression changing to a bright smile as she spoke, "Actually, forget about it. I shouldn''t bother you with this. You are already busy." "Julia," I spoke in a bit of a dominant voice, making her look at me. "What''s your gift?" I asked in the same manner, before she observed me for a few seconds and then sighed before telling me. [Gift: Poison Nature! Grade: Upper Mortal Grade-0 Effects: -Increases the Grade of All Poison Skills/Artifacts used by the user by 1! -Increases the effect of the All the Poison Skills/Artifacts used by the user by 100%! -Increases the duration of all the Poison skills/artifacts used by the user by 100%! -The user''s Poison resistance has been maxed out! -All the Poison created by the user has their grade increased by 2! Their effect and duration increased by 300% and their duration by 200%!] ''Nice gift,'' I thought as I noted down the effects of it. Then looking at her, I spoke, "Leave your weapon to me. For now, focus on finding an artifact that could help you store [Poisons!]. And if you can, learn how to make [Poisons!]. Once again, I will be taking care of your weapon, so leave that to me." I spoke as she looked at me with a sudden bright look, before I smiled and patted her head. "Don''t worry about small things, you know? You are a strong girl. You don''t need to show anyone anything," I smiled as I spoke before I erased my presence with an illusion and vanished from there. She realized what I meant as she spoke,"YOU-" But then finding that I wasn''t there, her eyes sank again. I looked at her observing the space in front of her, as she tried finding me for a moment before retracting her hand. "Just¡­ how can you be so close yet so far," she spoke in a low voice before muttering,"thank you, Adrian." ''You are wee,'' I answered her in my mind before walking away from there as I put on my mask. It does add a small burden to me, but I don''t mind as long as I can have another ally that will do my work. I was pretty much limited in the first tutorial because ofck of information. But in the next tutorial, I want things to be in my control as much as possible. My eyes narrowed at the front, as I increased my pace before I started running even faster. Given how I have barely 20 hours left now, I wanted to increase my [Gift] beyond [Lower Mortal Grade!] first. And then with the time left, I wanted to have at least one A-Grade skill that was created by me. Two, if possible within the time limit. Finally, I wanted to increase the grade of all my possessions to C-Grade at the very least. -Whoosh! And increasing my speed, I ran even faster than before. ¡­ [Luke''s POV!] "AAAAAA!!!!" I shouted as loud as I could as I attacked that monster for the 1000th time. [Basic Art: Evasive Strike has been activated!] [You have performed the Basic Strike perfectly for 100 times!] [Basic Art: Evasive Strike has advanced to Intermediate Art: Evasive Strike!] Dodging his attacks at the perfect moment, I attacked him from his weak points, crushing his health to minimum within a fraction of seconds. That D-Grade giant monster turned into crystals before vanishing from there. "Congrattions. You really are pretty tenacious. To get all the 6 basic arts to intermediate within 6 hours. It''s really something," Hamilton was really impressed. But this wasn''t enough¡­ I was still too weak. I wanted to kill a C-Grade monster without any added effects. Just with my basic strength. Just once. "Let''s go again¡­ we need to push all my Arts to Advance now¡­ It''s still far from over," I spoke as I restarted my training again. I was too weak¡­ I am too naive¡­ I am too prideful. I am far from strong. "As you say, Luke," Hamilton spoke as he then passed me another fatigue removing potion. And once again, I began training¡­ ¡­ [Julia''s POV!] Returning back to the base, I saw the girls training continuously without any break. I looked at them for a few seconds before, I saw Samantha calling me out, "Hey! Come here! Where were you gone?" "Just needed some fresh air." And with a smile forming on my face, I ran towards her as I joined the group in their training. Leaving my previous worries behind. ¡­ [Mark''s POV!] "All right. I can shoot about 15 targets now," I thought as I observed the results before I tightened my grip. The face of my best friend appeared in front of me again as I narrowed my eyes at the training area. Setting the target at 20, I then began my training once again. "Adrian. Brother¡­ where are you?" It was like a lump in my throat. Where was Adrian? What was he doing? Was he fine? All these questions were suffocating me. But I can''t do a thing about it. Except getting stronger. Strong enough that the next time something happens, I won''t have anything to regret again. Never again. ¡­ [Alice''s POV!] Standing in a huge hall, I faced that girl with blue eyes and blue hairs. She looked at me with a warm look as her eyes seemed a bit sad. She then moved towards me one step at a time, as I wondered why I was called here. Reaching closer to me, she then smiled as she hugged me tightly. Holding me tightly, I heard mumbling in my ears, "Sister. I missed you a lot." And once again I wondered, just what exactly is going on here? ¡­ [ir/Admin''s POV!] "Did you check it again?" I asked as I looked at my assistant who was equally worried as much as I was. Her eyes were shaking at the signature of energy she received from the tutorial 4. "Are you positive it''s from Tutorial 4?" I asked again and she nodded. Closing my eyes, I felt an ominous sensation welling up from my chest. The fact that the mana in tutorial 4 has been increased by 10 times wasn''t normal at all. "This¡­ is going to be a bit troublesome," I spoke out as I began preparing for the worst. Chapter 59: [Volume 3: Prologue!] [Adrian''s POV!] [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Mortal Grade-10 Experience till next Grade: 0.00%( Map 20 Kilometers in Area) Effect: -Allows the user to make a detailed Map of everything that he has captured with the skill [Mapping!] -Unlock Skill [Mapping!] ] [Skill: Mapping! Grade: F-Grade (Directly Connected with the Gift: Cartography) Effects: -Allows the user to map a distance of 100 meters around the user with urate precision!] ''Is it an upgrade or downgrade?'' I thought as I looked at that new skill and upgraded gift. Though on checking out the map, I found a couple of things that weren''t present before. Everything around me in 100 meters was redefined. It wasn''t a simple 2D Drawing anymore, as minor 3D blocks were present representing the trees, monsters and even my own data. I guess now I can make out the shape and color of the yers and monsters as well? Also, all the previous features of the map were still present, meaning I could still use the previous 2D map that I had used before, so in a way nothing was lost. Still¡­ ''It wasn''t something that I was expecting,'' I sighed as I began running around again. There was still an hour before morning, so I should hunt as much as possible. This night has been rather fruitful, so I wasn''t as dejected as I could have been when I saw that [Gift!]. I even got this to B-Grade. Though A-Grade seemed rather far as it was costing me 70 Million GM points. [elerated Learning! Grade: B Effects: -Allows the user to think 10 times faster! A headache will be induced based on the amount of time the user uses this skill! -Allows the user toprehend things 100% faster! -Increases the Focus of the user by 100%! -Increases the Learning proficiency by 50%!] As for my current GM Points, [GM Points: 1.3 Million GM Points!] It was too much inparison to what I was earning, but looking at the cost of A-Grade skills and beyond, it was still too less. ''Should I get multiple B-Grade skills, and then move forward with one Grade at a time?'' I thought as I don''t see myself getting an S-Grade skill by this method anytime soon. -Whoosh! I killed a couple of more D-grade monsters before killing a few more. Jumping around the forest, I was now used to the environment along with the use of [Illusion!] skill. It was easy to misdirect any monster around here. ''I think B-Grade will be a bit too much for all the equipment¡­ let''s settle with only C-Grade for now,''I thought before upgrading the two D-Grade items into C-Grade, each for 300,000 Points. [Item: Ring of Grace! Grade: C Status: Bound to Adrian John Rodriguez Effect: +50 Constitution +Increases the Chance ofnding a critical hit on the monsters by 20%!] [Item: Unloved Ne of Grace! Grade: C Status: Bound to Adrian John Rodriguez Effect: +70 Stamina! +Increases the Chance of finding a monster core while killing a monster by 5%!] On their own, they were fine. But their real effects were reflected on the set effect provided by theplete set. A smile appeared on my face as I saw the new changes in the set effects. [You have equipped all the Non-Combat Equipment of the Set: Grace! Partial Set Effects will be unlocked!] [Set Effect 1: Blessing of Grace: +30 in all stats! Set Effect 2: Love of Grace: Your HP and MP will regenerate at the rate of 100 per minute when in nonbat state! Set Effect 3: [Locked!] ] I then looked at the rest of the equipment for a few seconds. // Author''s Note: I have made a seperate section for Adrian''s Equipment in the Auxiliary Chapters. You can check it out. // Given I still had about 700,000 GM points, I pondered about a few things before a certain idea came into my mind. And then thinking about it in detail, I typed a few words in the System to see if I could create that. [Weapon: Sword of Grace Grade: C Status: Bound to Adrian John Rodriguez! Attack: 5000! Durability: 10,000/10,000 Effects: +30 Agility! +For every Critical hit, the damage would increase by 200%! +Blood Absorption: For every 1000 HP that the sword consumes from the target, it''s critical hit damage increases by !%!] [Would you like to create the Weapon for 700,000 GM Point?] It was ck katana that seemed a perfect match for the get up that I had. And looking at the description that it provided, it wasn''t half bad. Clicking [Yes!] I then took it in my hand as I took it out of the scabber before swinging it a couple of times. ''Nice.'' Putting it back into the scabbard, I then checked if there were any changes in the [Set Effects!] [You have equipped all the Equipment of the Set: Grace! Set Effects will be unlocked!] [Set Effect 1: Blessing of Grace: +30 in all stats! Set Effect 2: Love of Grace: Your HP and MP will regenerate at the rate of 100 per minute when in nonbat state! Set Effect 3: +For every Critical Hit done, 10% of the damage will be converted into your Health Points!] My eyes widened as I looked at thest set effect. A smile appeared on my face as I couldn''t wait to test out the sword, right now. Although I wasn''t as proficient in the sword, I think it wasn''t a bad time to practice it. Putting the guns back into the [Inventory!], I then switched to the Sword, and began running towards those monsters in front of me. -sh! The sword cut through the neck like butter as its head got separated from the body, before falling on the ground. And moving to the next monster in sight¡­ -sh! Another one fell down. While the feeling of shooting down the monsters was already good, the way of the sword was something that I was now getting addicted to a bit. Still, I didn''t try my luck as I began cutting down those monsters around me, trying to understand the best way to use the sword. Heck, I even used [elerated Learning!] to make sure I am doing it the right way. Though perhaps I was just learning by hit and trial method, I soon gave up as the headache from the skill became too much to bear. [You have mapped 10 Kilometers of area around you!] [Your [Gift] cartography has been upgraded by 1!] [Skill: Mapping has been upgraded by 1] And then with the sudden message I had to pause, as I looked at the [Gift] once again. There was no change in it, as it just stated the same thing as before, except the renewed cost of 50 kilometers. Though the [Mapping skill!] was upgraded by one grade and now, the total distance that can be mapped around me is 200 meters. ''Hmmm. Why do I feel like there is more to this than I am estimating it to be?'' I had a small doubt in my mind, but to make sure that what I was thinking was correct or not, I needed to check it out first. Hence, I resumed my hunt, this time trying to aim my hunt in the area where I haven''t mapped yet. And about 20 minutester¡­ [You have mapped 40 Kilometers in area using the skill [Mapping]] [The grade of your gift [Cartography] has been increased by 1] [The Skill: Mapping has been updated!] [New Skill Unlocked: Perfect Measurement!] [Skill: Perfect Measurement! Grade: E (directly depend upon the Grade of the Gift: Cartography) Effect: Allows the user to perfectly measure the dimension of all 3D objects which he sees!] I see that [Mapping] now had a distance of 300 meters, while I pressed my chin with my thumb as I realized the type of growth I was going to have with the [Mortal] grade of the gift. ''It will unlock more skills and upgrade them along with the gift, huh?'' I thought. I didn''t find it as bad now. Just with the [Perfect Measurement!] skill, I should be able to measure the angle distance of my jumps and attacks. Perhapster I can even calcte the required amount of mana I need to pour in order to kill a monster? "All right. Let''s get it to Grade-6 before the next tutorial starts,'' I thought as I began running once again. My eyes, looking at the system briefly before I began running even faster. [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! Title: [Goblin Hunter] ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Blessings: Blessing of Gaia(S) Surface Dweller(E) Gift: [Cartography (Mortal Grade-8)] Body-Talent: [Mortal!] Health: 1050/1050 Mana: 5550/5550 Attributes: Strength: 7.7 (+30) Agility: 9.2 (+200) Constitution: 5.0 (+100) Stamina: 8.0 (+100) Intelligence: 325.0 (+30) Wisdom: 26.0 (+50) Charm: 3.4 (+30) Free Attribute Points: 15 Points: 57,244,971! Skills: Active: [Hunt!] [Aura!] [Illusion!] [elerated Learning!] Passive: [Perception!] [Mana Regeneration!][Mana Sense!] [Professional Cooking!] [Absolute Nullification!] [Parkour!] [Inventory!] Gift: [Mapping][Perfect Measurement] Items: Stealth Cloak(C) ck Leather Armour of Grace(C) ck Leather Boots of Grace(C) ck Leather Gloves of Grace(C) Unloved Ring of Grace(C) Unloved Ne of Grace(D) Twin Guns of Azeroth(C) Amulet of Pathseeker(?) Sword of Grace(C) Mask of the Crow(E) ¡­ Author''s note: Hey Everyone, hope you are enjoying the story. I will be creating a discord for it soon. But for now, I will be making some auxiliary chapters for the system stats, weapons, skills etc. This way, I won''t have to repeat everything all over and just point out the changes whenever I upgrade something. Please share some power stones, golden tickets. [Gifts if possible? I will publish an extra chapter for every 1000 coins I get. Thank you ?? ] Chapter 60: [Tutorial 4!] [Adrian''s POV!] About 20 minutes before the next tutorial starts. I had already given the weapons to Alice and Julia, and they both seemed rather happy with what I gave them. For Julia, I gave her a glove like weapon that would shoot darts made up of poison. She can store upto 10 different types of poison and can shoot 100 poison needles made of each of those poison. The best thing about it is that the glove is registered as an item rather than a weapon, making the space for the weapon open for her. She can use the gloves as her secret weapon for various types of situations. Another feature of the weapon that I like was that it takes barely 10 ml of poison to work and can increase the effect of the poison by 50%. And since her gift wasn''t dependent on any of the stats, I gave a +20 in Wisdom, given most of her skills will be based on that. Julia was constantly looking at those gloves dozens of times with a constant smile on her face. As for Alice, I gave her a [Mana Pen!] that came with a [Skill Storage!] that allows her to [Copy!] and [Store!] any of the skills that she has seen and use it in battleter on. It was a B-Grade weapon that took 2 Million points to create, but looking how satisfied she was, I believe it was worth it. The reason it was a weapon and not an artifact, was because it increases the overall effect of allbat skills by 300%, along with an added random elemental effect just like my gun. It was a perfect weapon for her, since her mana was high and she can use her innate skills on that weapon. And given how she can store a thousand skills in it for as long as possible, the limit wasn''t really a problem either. Just that each copied skill can be used only twice. And one skill can only be copied for 5 times. Though it also meant that she can use a single skill for 10 times without any cooldown. Its only limit is that it can''t store S-grade skills or above that. ''Though it did surprise me that she was called by the Goddess that contracted her. She said she had a lot to tell me but we should talk in the Tutorial since there were people listening here,'' I pondered a little before recalling a few things from the tutorial before putting it to the back of my mind. "Well. It''s good and all given how she received an S-Grade skill and 2 A-Grade skills," I smiled as the encounter was rather fruitful for her. And judging how her mood was uplifted after she came back from wherever she went, I guess I shouldn''t worry too much either. I then looked at the others present in the area. There were people from my old group, and most of my ssmates and another bunch of people I don''t know. Seems like everyone who is going to the next tutorial has started to form groups together. My group seemed to be more on the excited side as theyughed and talked to each other as if they were going on a pic. On the other hand, my ssmates and the other groups had a pensive look on their faces. They knew that they wouldn''t die even if they were killed, but still, the fear of death wasn''t that easy to let go. ''Not bad,'' I mumbled as I looked at my [Gift] once again. It was [Mortal Grade - 6] now. I wish I could take it to [Grade 5] but increasing it any further would be a pain since the distance required to cover was 200 kilometers in area. And I can''t even do it as fast as before since the only area calcted was based on [Mapping] skill, which now had a radius of 500 meters. Though 2 good things dide out of upping the grade. [Skill: Perfect Measurement! Grade: D (directly depend upon the Grade of the Gift: Cartography) Effect: -Allows the user to perfectly measure the dimension of all 3D objects which he sees! -Allows the user to perfectly calcte the amount of mana an object has!] One was this skill upgrade. And another was this¡­ [Skill: Eidetic Memory! Grade: D Effects: Allows the user to remember and recall everything with great precision!] It was a simple skill that somehow was one of my best skills now. When paired with [elerated Learning!], I could just finish books within seconds if not minutes. Ah! One more thing that happened was that resolution of objects became more clear in the map that has been [Mapped!]. If previously, three big blocks were designated to define a single person, now there are 20 such blocks for the same. If my calctions are correct, I should be able to get a detailed 3D picture of all the people and surroundings on my map, if I were able to up it to [Grade - 0] again. "Well. As long as I am not limited to a defined area, I will try to reach [Grade - 0] by the end of this tutorial," I made it as one of my goals for now. The other being to get an S-Grade skill card or more. Anything below, I will try and sell it if possible. As I finalized my thoughts, the tutorial countdown reached its final seconds. My eyes observed it going to 0 as the surroundings changedpletely once again. . . . A few seconds passed as the vision cleared and I found myself back at the same point as I had always been. "Totally forgot about it," I chuckled as I saw the [Game Master]''s Screen appearing in front of me, having a bunch of panels showing [Main System] [Commands!] [Contractees] [Privileges] [Quests] [Bets] [Continue] ''All right. Let''s check it all out one by one,'' I thought as I began looking through the Game Master System once again. The Main System was the same as before. As for the [Commands], it was the ce where I created all the quests etc. In the [Contractee!], only my name was present, while the [Privileges!] panel showed all the things I unlocked by increasing the Authority. The Quest this time were pretty much simr to the first tutorial [Normal Quest(2)!] [Hidden Quest(2)!] [Normal Quests!] [Escape! Difficulty: Hard! Objective: Escape from the forest and reach a safe city before the nightes! Time limit: 1 Hour! Reward: +2 Skill Points! Failure: You will be locked out of the city for the entire night!] [Help! Difficulty: Hard! Objective: Help at least 10 NPCs reach the safe city! Time limit: 1 Hour! Reward: +5 Skill Points!] ''So it''s a forest escape, huh? The skill points seem attractive though,'' I thought as I looked at them. ire had told me about them. They were used to upgrade a skill and can only be found in the 4th, 5th and 6th Tutorial. Though there was a catch in how to use them. An F-Grade skill required 1 Skill points to upgrade it to E-Grade, but an E to D grade cost was 10 Skill Points. Simrly D to C was 100, C to B was 1000, and B to A was 10,000 Skill Points. So it was a boon to those who were stuck with F-Grade skills, but wasn''t really useful for people who had A-Grade skills and above. After all, Skill points were not thatmon as they seem to be. [Would you like to create 10,000 Skill Points for 100 Million GM points?] And it wasn''t something that I can just get for GM points either since the values were almost the same. In any case, I then ignored the normal quest and focused on the [Hidden Quest!] [Hidden Quest: They awaken during the night! Difficulty: Near Impossible! Objective: The lesser Vampires have awakened during the night and are roaming the forest! Your objective is to kill as many as possible and survive till the morning sunes up! Time to survive: 12 Hours! Rewards: Skill Points (Will be calcted based on the number of Lesser Vampires killed)] [Hidden Quest: He who bathes in moonlight and blood! Difficulty: Impossible! Objective: The Vampire Baron who controls all the lesser Vampires has appeared to take over the city! Your objective is to stop him from reaching the city till the morninges up! Time to Survive: 12 Hours! Rewards: [Skill to Skill Points Converter!] "¡­" The difficulty was high but¡­ it certainly wasn''t impossible. I might have considered giving it up since the opponent seems strong. But after looking at the reward¡­ damn I won''t. It was one way up to be the richest man in the entire Tower. "I was saving it forter but now that it hase to this¡­" I then took out my [Twin Guns!] and then added another feature to it. [-Instantly Kills all Vampires on hit!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 100 Billion GM Points?] ">.>" I rubbed my eyes for a few moments before I thought about it. Then thinking that there could be Vampire Kings and beyond, some even Immortals and stuff. And killing them in one shot¡­ all right. I miscalcted. Let''s try something else then [-Instantly Kills Baron Vampire and Below!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 50 Million GM Points?] ''Does that mean that a Baron Vampire is a Peak B-Grade?'' I made a tense expression before making some changes to the instructions. [-Continually Adds Light Mana that adds 10 times damage to Vampires!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 2 Million GM Points?] ''I barely have a Million Points, though? Should I do half of it?'' I thought a bit before changing the damage to 5 times, which resulted in the cost to reach 800,000 GM Points. I could only hope that the number of lesser Vampires would be enough to help me make up for the cost that I am putting in here. Pressing [Yes], I then sighed if I was doing it right or not. But in the end, I do want that artifact after all. Taking a deep breath, I then shook my head before looking at the [Bets] next. [Bet on the number of Survivors!] [x10] [Bet on the person who will reach the city first!] [x100] [Bet on the person who will reach the cityst!] [x50] [Bet on the person who will save the most people in the city!] [x100] [Bet on the person who will survive the night without reaching the city!] [x1000] ''The only one that works for me is this¡­ oh nice!'' [Bet on the Person who will survive the night without reaching the city! ][x1000!] "This solves the problem of the first S-Grade skill," a smile appeared on my face as I could make 250 Million Points. Though it also made me sad that I didn''t have more GM points. But it was fine. The points that I poured into the weapon are totally worth it. I then looked at the entire thing once again, before pressing [Continue!] once again. I was actually getting excited. The time started again as a simr quest appeared on the blue system screen. And I found myself in an open area within a dense forest. The area around me was barely visible as the sunlight reached to the ground from the setting sun. My [Map] showed me nasty bald vampire lings creeping within the darkness of the forest. They were in the deeper areas, opposite to the direction nearest road. If I were to give a close example of them, then they seemed like dobby from harry potter, except much more ferocious and beasty. Because of my increased [Perception!], I could see their red ferocious eyes. They also had fangs instead of their teeth. ''About¡­ 50? Or perhaps more?'' I thought as I observed them, with a smile forming on my face. Seems like I can get back the GM points I paid for this particr scenario. Chapter 61: [Quest: Escape!] Taking the first step, I dashed towards the nearest group of monsters. There were two reasons for doing so. One was to kill as many monsters as possible before the Vampire Baron appears. The other was to increase the area of my [Gift]. Even though it was 250 kilometers, I should be able to fill at least a quarter of it before this tutorial ends. Slowly I took the weapon out of my [Inventory!] before pointing at the lesser vampires in front of me. My eyes narrowed at them as I erased my presencepletely. Seems like they weren''t strong enough to sense my presence. ''Good!'' [Twin Guns: Normal -> Rapid Fire Mode!] Aiming, I took the first shot and¡­ [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Lesser Vampireling!] [+500 GM Points received!] ''So they don''t give any points, huh? Seems pretty useless for the other yers-'' as I was thinking, I found a certain card falling on the ce where the vampire was killed. He was turned into dust, leaving that card behind. Moving close to the card, I picked it up. [D-Grade Skill Card: Evade!] My eyes narrowed at the card before I sighed. Seems like I need to up my [Inventory!] again. I bought it at the beginning of the tutorial, but not once did I need to increase it. But looking at this¡­ I sighed as I then killed a dozen more Vampirelings around before increasing the grade of the Inventory. [Skill: Inventory! Grade: E Effect: Allows the user to store any item in a subspace of [5 x 5 x 5] meters!] [Would you like to make the changes for 5000 Points?] The reason I kept it as a skill and not kept the [Inventory Pouch!] was because I was afraid of any [Thieving!] skill that could end up taking this from me. Pressing [Yes!], I then killed a dozen more of them that wereing in my direction. Even though they can''t see me, they seemed to have found the direction from where I was shooting. And then I added another feature into the Inventory for the time being. [Inventory! Grade: E Effect: -Allows the user to store any item in a subspace of [5 x 5 x 5] meters! -Allows the user to store any unowned item as long as it is within a radius of 5 meters from the user!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 10,000 GM Points?] Once again, clicking [Yes!] I then continued my hunt. With my increased agility, I was able to run faster than before, killing 10s of monsters at once. The added effect did wonders, as the monsters were dying with a single shot each time. And as I ran deeper into the forest, I found more of those monsters present there. Though something was different about them than those on the outside. [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Lesser Vampireling (Half-Awakened)!] [+750 GM Points Received!] ''Hmmm. Seems like they are fully awake at night?'' I thought as I looked at their speed increasing now. If not for my Illusion masking my presence, I might have been in a lot of trouble. While alone it might not be much, but now that their numbers were increasing so fast, I could only see how much of a danger they were. Though, rather than worry, a wide smile was present on my face as I calcted the time and distance it would take for them to reach me. And then pointing my gun at them, I then started shooting them again. Since I was still able to one shot them, it made things only better for me. Perhaps increasing all of my gears to A-Grade wasn''t that far fetched anymore. [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Lesser Vampireling (Half-Awakened)!] [You have killed a D-Grade Monster: Lesser¡­] [You have killed a D-Grade¡­.] [You have¡­] [¡­] ¡­ While Adrian was busy killing the vampires, the same could not be said for others. Each yer was transported randomly in the forest. Some near the road, some far away. It was a total matter of luck, as they had to figure out a way out of the forest. Though by instinct, they all knew that they had to run towards the clearer side of the forest where the sunlight was still reaching. Some reached the road early, and began following the path towards the city. While others who were far, encountered some normal monsters, the E-Grade ones like goblins and others. A couple of fateful ones found some NPCs, whose carts were broken. Anyway, all of them were faring their own ways. And since the night was still an hour away, most of the yers should easily reach the city much before the time ends. Only those who are brave or those who are fools are going to be the one who will fail to reach the city. ¡­ [Location: East-Forest: 2 Kilometers Away from the City!] "Mark! Behind you!" Shouted Julia as she looked at the 5 Vampirling trying to attack them. But Mark, aiming 5 arrows at once, shot all of them at once. They were fast but with his Silver arrows that were somehow effective against these beasts, he was able to one shot them. But sadly, the arrows were numbered and they had to find the way to the city fast before the time reached 0. "To think I would be transported near you. It was a good thing for me, but sorry for being a burden. Seems like my poison doesn''t have much effect on them," Julia spoke with a sad tone, but Mark didn''t seem to be bothered about it at all. "It''s fine really. With you watching my back, it''s actually a relief for me. Though we should find out the way to the city fast," Mark spoke, making Julia nod before she added, "Since the forest is clearer on that side, let''s walk there. I observed that those vampirelings were avoiding sunlight, so we should go to an open area first." Mark nodded before both of them began walking to that area. ¡­ [Location: North of the City: About 4 Kilometers away from the city!] "Just what are these monsters?! Why are they so powerful?!!" A middle aged man shouted in terror as he looked at all those monsters around him. If not for the twodies with long ck hairs, he along with the other 5 people in the group, would have been turned into monster food by now. -BOOM! "Take control of all the monsters at a distance, I will take care of the closer ones," Alice said as she created a ring of fire around her. Her new skill allowed her to freely manipte any elemental mana present in the air and increase its effect by a huge margin. "I am Alice by the way," she added as she looked at the other girl who was shooting arrows without breaking a sweat. Each of her arrows were precise, one shooting each of those Vampirelings before they could even reach them. The only limit was that she had to reload every 10 seconds or so, which gave a brief opening for the vampirelings to reach them. "Umu. My name is Bos- Evelin. I will take care of them. But we should start moving too, the quest is asking us to reach the city," Evelin spoke as she reloaded the arrows before beginning to shoot again. Both of them took a nce at the 5 yers that were collected behind them and sighed before beginning to take a step towards the clearer area of the forest. "Wait! Wait for us too!" and the rest of the people understood what they were doing, before they matches the pace of the girls as well. ¡­ [Location: West forest: 3 Kilometers away from the city!] [Advanced Art: Fast Pace Retreat!] "To think that the first Art that I would be using would be to run away," Luke had an irritated expression on his face. Even though he was able to kill a D-Grade monster with his mana skill, the fact that they give only [D-Grade] skill cards, was something he found more of a waste that wasn''t worth putting effort into. "Hmmm? Who is she?" He muttered as he saw a girl running away from a dozen of vampire monsters. She was fast, but the monsters were catching up to her as well. A smile appeared on Luke''s face as he imagined himself saving that girl from those monster. It was something that he was fascinated with for a long time, often wondering what would happen if he were to be a hero of a fantasy novel or something. This was probably his chance¡­ probably¡­ [Advanced Art: Drifting Melody!] He then took a deep breath before dashing towards the first monster, [First Step!] He killed three of them. [Second Step!] 5 more vanished. [Third Step!] And finally the rest of them were gone as well. Luke finally slowed down, appearing right in front of the girl, as he observed her panicked expression. He gave out a smile, with a heroic expression as he spoke,"it''s all right. I have kill-" "GET THE FUCK OUT MY WAY!!" -POW!!! [-40 HP] And that blonde girl wearing a cloak ran away from there, as Luke stayed there and fell on the ground for a few seconds. His mind elerated as he went through grief -> embarrassment -> sorrow -> grief -> and finally denial. Quickly standing back up, he dusted himself before running towards the open area of the forest as if nothing ever happened. "I wonder how long will it take to reach the city," he mumbled as if this incident didn''t take ce. Though the expression of a small red punch on his face more or less betrayed whatever act he was trying to pull. ¡­ [Location: South of the City: 6 Kilometers from the City!] The white haired man, Levi, ran as fast as possible towards the safer area of the forest. His mind was in shambles a little, and as he ran a panicked expression appeared on his face. Though it wasn''t because of the monsters that were present in that area. But because of a certain man that happened to see him. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Of all the people, why did it have to be him?" Levi ran away from there as fast as possible. He was a nonbatant of his group, with his main skills lying around information gathering and stuff. The fact he met the man that killed Rebas and went tow to tow with their Boss, was really bad news. "Where are you? Oh my white rabbit!" And the voice of that man, ke, came from the depth of the forest, disgustingly cheerful as if he were on a hunt. The tree branches around Levi wriggled before moving towards his direction. Barely dodging them, Levi ran even faster. He knew that he was no match against this monster that could control nts without any efforts, so his best bet was to find one of his teammates before he gets killed as well. "FOUND YOU!!!" ke shouted with a maniacugh, before those branches suddenly grabbed Levi''s foot, making him trip over and fall on his nose. The branch slowly lifted Levi up in the air, hanging him upside down, as ke walked closer to him. "Boys. Seems like we got our food for tonight," ke joked as he looked at Levi, while the other dozens of men following ke smiled. Some smiles were forced while others were genuine. "ke. Come on man, we don''t need to do this. Time is running out for both of us," Levi tried to struggle out of the situation but ke justughed at him. He then made a sudden serious expression as if he was thinking something before he spoke, "All right. I will let you go. But I have a condition." "Condition?" Levi narrowed his eyes at ke before he made an evil grin," let me have that long haired bitch. Man, I would love to taste her." -Spit! Levi spat on ke''s face as he spoke,"how is that for an answer, huh?" ke then looked at Levi before speaking,"seems like you chose to die painfully, huh? I will grant that wish of yours then. I will skin you alive until you beg me to kill you." There was a re in ke''s eyes as he then took out a knife and then moved it towards Levi''s skin. "Boss!" One of the men shouted as his voice resounded in the air, stopping ke in his steps as he looked around. An irritated expression appeared on his face, before it changed into slight horror. And only then ke noticed the 100s of red-eyed crows sitting all around him in the forest, all looking in his direction. Chapter 62: [Fight in the forest!] [Levi''s POV!] If it were Boss, she would have killed ke without taking a single break. She would have poured all her powers and skills to make sure ke is dead. She isn''t the type to let go of grudges. If it were Rebas or Invar, they would have fought till death. Previously we were at a disadvantage, but now that we had proper weapons and skills, I doubt ke would havested for even a single minute. But it''s not them. ''Of all the people¡­ you had to encounter Adrian, huh?'' I thought as I was still hanging by the branch as ke still has that knife on my neck. But it was fine now. At least for me. As for ke, he was looking at all those crows present around him. His eyes were narrowed at them, before he then looked at a distance, deeper into the forest. A man wearing ck cloak and a ck feather mask was walking towards us, one step at a time. It was impossible to make out his face as the skill of the mask interrupted our vision. Though since I already had met him before, it was fairly easy to guess who he was. "Who are you?" One of the men spoke as he looked at Adrian. Though rather than answering him, Adrian kept walking towards ke, one step at a time. "Hey you bastard! I asked you a question-" as that man asked again, something growled upon him, making him fall on the ground. "AAAAAAAA!!!!!" He then shouted in pain as his innards were torn apart. He slowly lost all his health before he could even do anything. It was a gruesome sight that made some of them turn their head away, while others vomited out, unable to look at the sight. We couldn''t see what it was, but something ate apart that man as he slowly sumbed to death. As we were observing the dead body of that man with a fear filled expression, the monster that attacked him slowly became visible to the naked eyes. It was the same vamipreling monster that was attacking us before. And right now, it chewed on the dead body of that man, while the others stared at it with a deep rooted terror in their eyes. -Whoosh! And suddenly a branch of the tree appeared in front of ke, catching something in its grasp, preventing it from reaching ke. Those branches tightened up crushing whatever was in its grasp, before it too, appeared in front of us. Another vampireling. ''Why are they invisible? Is it their power or¡­'' My eyes questioned as I looked at Adrian, wondering if he was responsible for this? "Who are you?" A bit tense, ke asked as he looked at Adrian, but the answer never came as Adrian slowly kept walking one step at a time towards us. "Save me! AAAA-" "BOSS SAVE-MMHH!! AAAAH!!!!" "RUN!!!" "NO!!!!" Those men shouted as they all were slowly eaten up by those Vampire Monsters. Though what was fascinating was that those monsters died as soon as they killed those men. Which made me wonder if Adrian was able to control those monsters somehow? ''Or was he Adrian at all?'' As soon as that thought entered my mind, my heart beat rose, as I slowly started removing the grip of the branch. I would find the answers after I have confirmed my safety. Right now, running away takes priority. "I don''t know who or what you are but¡­ die," ke didn''t panic in the slightest as he looked at Adrian before hemanded those tree branches to attack him. Though surprisingly or unsurprisingly, those branches passed right through him, making ke narrow his eyes at that guy. ''An illusion?'' I thought as I frantically tried to remove the branches from my legs. Things were getting scarier by the second. ke then took out an artifact from his backpack. A green coloured [Grimoire]. His eyes observed that guy for a few more seconds before he chanted, "Imand thee to protect me, and Imand thee to erase my enemy!" -Swirl! A huge gust of wind blew creating dust all around us. It carried leaves and broken branches as it traveled around the forest and circled all around us. And then the roots and the branches of the trees all around us began rapidly moving towards that ck cloaked guy. Though¡­ That guy. He simply continued walking. If he was 50 meters away before, now he is barely 20 meters away. And with the same slow walking speed he kept moving towards ke as those branches passed through him. ke finally had a slight bit of worry on his face, as he increased the intensity of his attacks. -Kaw! Kaw! Kaw! Kaw! The crows began making noise all around the forest, as they all flew in the storm in the opposite direction of the wind. While that guy in the crow mask walked closer to ke, reaching about 10 meters away from him. "Who are you? And what do you want from me?!" The previously calm ke, was now enraged. All his attacks were basically useless against this guy. Though ke''s eyes hadn''t given up yet. "Nothing. I just don''t like you," that guy, spoke in a voice that was familiar to us. It wasn''t Adrian''s voice, but the other voice that Adrian talked to us with, using that mask before. A smile appeared on my face as I saw him pointing the gun at ke''s face before he spoke, "So please die." -BANG!!! A loud bang was resounded as I saw ke vanishing from there before appearing right behind Adrian, almost catching him. Though just like before, his hand passed through Adrian''s body. "Huh?" And then another Adrian appeared on ke''s right, pointing a gun at ke''s forehead. "You are fast, huh?" Adrian spoke with a bored out expression. -Swish!!!! A bunch of branches attacked Adrian though¡­ they passed through him again. ''Another Illusion?'' I thought as my heart almost skipped a beat thinking ke got Adrian. "But it''s still slow," and this time from the left another illusion appeared, which shot at ke. ke was still fast enough, as he dashed to the front, barely dodging that shot. However, One more shot took ce, this time without any sound. This time exactly on ke''s forehead, where hended after the dash. And as the other illusions disappeared, the real Adrian appeared with his guns pointed at the forehead of ke. ke''s body looked at Adrian with a surprised look. "I will¡­ kill you," he spoke as he slowly lost consciousness before dying in front of us. The forest which was filled with storms and gusts, was now dead calm. It was too creepy. Though something scarier was present in front of me¡­ "¡­uh¡­ Adrian?" I asked as I looked at him. I still haven''t confirmed if it was really Adrian or someone else. "It''s me Levi. Though, you should hurry up. There is only 30 minutes left," Adrian spoke with a calm voice, making me finally rxed. I then nodded as I asked,"aren''t you going toe as well?" He shook his head before looking at the darker portion of the forest. His eyes were narrowed the iing monsters at a distance before he pointed in the open area of the forest and spoke, "Run straight in that direction. You will find a road about 2 kilometers from here. Just follow the road, and you should reach the city within 10 minutes. I have something to do here¡­ also, don''t worry about monsters. I will make sure none of them reach you." I know he was speaking with a serious voice, though why did I feel like he was getting excited? Must be my imagination. "All right. You too take care brother. Thank you for the help," I said as I picked up a few of my things before beginning to run away from there. I did look back at him, though he vanished right as I started running so I didn''t bother again. Following the direction which he told me, I reached the road within 5 minutes, and then from there it was a smooth sail as I reached the town gate within the next 10 minutes. [Quest Complete!] [+2 Skill Points!] "So many of thempleted the quest, huh?" Looking at the number of people, it seems most of the yers hadpleted the tutorial. Seems like it wasn''t as hard as everyone was expected to be. Though on that not¡­ where are my teammates? "Levi! Here!" I saw Avida shouting as she waved her hand, before I reached her. Boss and Invar were also there, as they discussed their situations. Joining them, I first listened to their words before telling them what transpired on my path. "So that bastard is dead, huh?" Boss spoke with a bit of regret before speaking," you said that Adrian was going deeper into the forest?" Her eyes were tense as she looked at the forest beyond the gate. Though she sighed as she spoke," he shouldn''t carry everything by himself all the time." Well. It''s true but¡­ that''s just how Adrian was. We then discussed a few more things as the countdown finally reached zero. And as we wondered what we should do next, a dozen caravans appeared towards all the yers. Out of the Caravan that was the most luxurious, appeared a fat man wearing a crown. His eyes were filled with fear and anxiety. Though there was some joy and hope in them as well. "Heroes! You have finally arrived to protect us!! Finally the Gods have listened to us!" He shouted, as he looked at us with a deep hope. And then a system message appeared in front of us. Signifying that the next tutorial has begun. [Tutorial Level 5 Begins!] Chapter 63: [Quest Failed!] [Adrian''s Pov!] [You have failed the Tutorial Quest 4] [Hidden Scenario will be opened for you!] [Hidden Quest: He who bathes in moonlight and blood! Difficulty: Impossible! Objective: The Vampire Baron who controls all the lesser Vampires has appeared to take over the city! Your objective is to stop him from reaching the city till the morninges up! Time to Survive: 12 Hours! Rewards: ??? ] A chuckle escaped my mouth as I observed the same quest at the blue screen. The reward was hidden here but I already knew what it was. Though the main reason for my smile was this. [GM Points: 3.1 Million!] Just a single hour was enough to give me this many points. It was partially because of the fact that I could one shot all the D-Grade vampires and partially because that their number only increased as I went deeper into the forest. "Well. Let''s first increase our fire power. Nothing good wille out of all this if I can''t even deal proper damage to that Baron Vampire," I smiled as I didn''t hesitate to put 3 Million just to increase the damage from 5 times to 15 times. The second timer began ticking as the number of monsters suddenly started increasing. While it was a good thing, I couldn''t help but feel uneasy. The entire map was slowly getting coloured in red as a huge horde of monsters began appearing from all the sides. Even with [Rapid Mode!] I doubt I could kill all of them before they surround mepletely. "It''s not like I have much of a choice though," I thought as I killed one of the Vampirelings. [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Infantile Vampireling!] And I realized the reason behind their huge number. They were baby monsters unlike the grown ones. Because of [elerated Thinking!] I could more or less formte the rtion between the numbers of monsters and their Grades. Even to the point of their growth nature and patterns. It was a simple deduction. These monster types probably produced a huge amount of weak monsters. Like the horde that I am witnessing right now. These weak monsters can''te out in the sun hence they weren''t present back when the sunlight was still visible. Though as soon as the sun went out, they began moving towards the nearest food source. It was their instincts that drove them there. These weak monsters would probably feed on other beings, preferably humans, and grow into D-Grade monsters, like the one I was killing up until now. "So that means as the grade of these Vampires increases, there number should also reduce, huh?" I felt a bit sad. I mean, that would mean there were less B-Grade skills and even lesser A-Grade ones. I could only sigh as I then aimed my gun at those iing monsters and began rapid firing once again. Seconds turned to minutes and then an hour passed as I saw my GM points barely reaching 500,000. It was frustrating to see it rise so slowly after I just happen to earn 6 times more in the previous hour. Another irritating thing was that the [Inventory!] waspletely packed now, which made me wonder if I should upgrade it first or make some changes to my weapon such that it allows me to kill the monsters faster? [elerated Learning!] I used my skill for a second before I found an optimal way to increase my hunting speed. [-Laser Gun mode: Changes the gun to a Laser with a range of 100 meters, that does 10% of the total damage per second it is used] [Would you like to make the following changes for 350,000 GM points?] Pressing [Yes], I then change the gun into aser gun. It wasn''t convenient against normal monsters but for a lower grade monster, I think it''s perfect. Pointing my gun at those monsters around me, I then pressed the trigger. This time, I poured mana at the rate of 3MP per second. Given my wisdom and all the other added effects, a single MP should give out an attack of 500 against those Vampire lings. So 3 MP should be the sweet spot. Theser shot out of the gun, reached the vampirelings, turned them into dust and continued until they reached their maximum distance of 100 meters. "Perfect!" I slowly rotated the angle as more and more of those vampirelings died. With each passing moment, 100s of those monsters were turning to dust. The never ending barrage of system messages were a delicacy to look at. Though as soon as Ipleted 180 degrees and both the guns covered the maximum area they could, the messages thinned out to 5 to 6 at a time. "Ah! I overdid it," I sighed as I looked at the entire area in a radius of 100 meters around me, plummeting to the ground. It was as if a huge battle had taken ce in just this area, which did happen in a way. Well. Whatever. [GM Points: 234,125] Given I already had 150k, I scored about 80k at once, huh? Not bad. My eyes then once again went to the [Map!]. The number of monsters were ever increasing, with each of them collecting near the city walls, trying to break through its defense. ''I guess my illusion is still working,'' I thought as I saw all those monsters passing by me without noticing me at all. [Inventory! Grade: D Effect: -Allows the user to store any item in a subspace of [50 x 50 x 50] meters! -Allows the user to store any unowned item as long as it is within a radius of 20 meters from the user!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 150,000 Points?] [Yes!] A basic utility upgrade. Though I wondered if I should continue with this skill or not. Especially because of the limited skill space that I had. "If I can change it into a subspace type skill with time dtion effects, then maybe it will be worth it?" I gave it a quick thought before putting it to the back of my mind. For now I should focus only on my current objectives. "Now then. Just where is that Vampire Baron?" I wondered as I tried searching for him in the red sea of monsters on the map. ¡­ [Samantha''s POV!] Being a central figure of the group is exhausting. I know I am not the leader but still, being the main damage dealer along with being the strategist of the group does put me in a spot. ''I don''t mind it though,'' I smiled as I looked at the girls excitedly talking about the Tutorial along with admiring the city view around them. We were currently walking towards the main castle, just behind the King''s caravan. ording to what we know, this ce is thest standing city of this world. The entire world outside this city has been taken over by Vampires and our work is to provide a way to prevent the fall of this world. In a way it was an impossible quest since we were talking about saving an entire world but since there was no time limit to it, I think it should be doable if we do it step by step. [Quest: Protect the City! Difficulty: Impossible! Objectively: Protect the city for as long as possible! Time limit: None! Rewards: Will be based on the time the city survives!] An odd quest without any proper direction. "Mark! Alice! Have you met with Adrian yet?" I heard Julia''s voice as she asked about her crush. ''This love struck fool,'' I sighed as I looked at her walking towards the duo. Alex was also with them, just that he was more interested in talking with the NPC guard in front of them. Perhaps he was trying to get some information? Smart. "Not yet. I didn''t see him at the entrance either," Alice answered, making Julia sigh in dejection. Mark too didn''t seem happy right now. Now that I think about it, Mark used to be a lot more cheerful than before. I wonder what happened to him? "Hey Mark," I called him before waving at him. Turning to me, he smiled a little before he waved back,"hey." Moving closer to him, I asked," what happened? You don''t look so good? Everything is okay, right?" "Yeah," he answered, getting a bit more sad before he continued," I am good. What about you?" "I am fine. Just a bit worried about everything that is going on. Despite trying to adapt to this¡­ whole new situation¡­ I still can''t believe that all our previous lives are gone. I miss mom and dad," I spoke as the buried emotion began resurfacing again. I did try to search for them in the tutorial but I guess they didn''t make it here. Perhaps they were transferred to somewhere else? "Though they are going to be fine, you know? They are much smarter than I am. Haha," Iughed out a little, trying to lighten the situation. But deep inside I was worried. They are fine right? "Yup. Based on how active they were in this year''s sports day, I am more worried about the monsters," Mark spoke with genuine concern as he observed my face. "Pfft~ Hahahaha!" And rxing out, Iughed at his expression before I spoke, "You idiot," as I wiped my tears. "What?" He was still confused but I just shook my head with a smile. "Nothing," I answered before I continued walking beside this idiot. Talking more about genuine things, and a bit more about idiotic things. Chapter 64: [Strange Occurrences!] [Adrian''s POV!] [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Mortal Grade-5 Experience till next Grade: 60.00%( Map 500 Kilometers in Area) Effect: -Allows the user to make a detailed Map of everything that he has captured with the skill [Mapping!] -The user can now create a hologram to show the Map to others. -Unlocked Skills: [Mapping!] [Perfect Measurement!] [Eidetic Memory!] ] Other than that now I can present it outside to others, there were no functional changes in any of the skills or the Gift itself. Though looking at the map, I saw that it was once again redefined. In a way, it was a real time map now, with the nts, and monsters roaming within the forest. It was still looking animated though. Except that it was still extremely precise that I couldn''t differentiate between the real thing and what was on the map unless I really focused. ''Well. Not exactly what I needed but, it''s still better than nothing,'' I thought as I then looked around the forest. As I was hunting, I was leaving behind destruction everywhere I went. So, the previous dense forest no longer existed as only rubbles of broken trees and rocks were present in front of me. But I couldn''t really focus on that as something else was on my mind right now. "That Vampire is still not here," I mumbled as I saw that about 5 hours had passed, leaving barely 7 hours till the quest was over. Yet, that guy still hasn''t arrived. Honestly, I should be happy about it since I now have more time to gain GM points, but for some reason his absence was making me more uneasy as time passed. [GM Points: 7.3 Million!] ''Should I use it, or save it for the time he appears in front of me?'' I thought as I then looked through my system. I have many skills that I can upgrade to B-Grade right now, or perhaps I could spend it on my items? I am going to fight a peak B-Grade monster after all. But in the end, I sighed as I decided to save it until I found that guy. Till then, I should just keep collecting more GM Points, maybe I could map the entire forest around the city? ''I can start from the wall area?'' I thought as I still haven''t moved near the boundary of the city. The reason was simply because the number of monsters were lesser there. I then gave it a moment of thought. And then¡­ "I guess, we can do that," I found that idea to be fine. I stretched and began running towards the city again. This time with a new goal, that is to map at least 10 kilometers around the city without missing a single ce. [Twin Guns: Laser Mode -> Rapid Fire!] Moving towards the city, I continued killing those monsters. Since their numbers were far less, I don''t think I need to destroy the forest anymore. Hmmm¡­ I kinda feel bad for the forest that was destroyed. ''I wonder if I should create an elemental skill that allows me to control everything? The way that kid was controlling the forest was kind of cool,'' I pondered about it while I kept shooting those monsters while moving towards the city gate. Took about 10 minutes before I reached the point where I could map the wall and beyond. And what I found was kind of surprising to be honest. I mean, I should be already expecting this from a fantasy setting, but still¡­ The walls were lit up bright with various symbols all over them. The symbols even stretched to the ground covering about 10 meters ahead of the walls. As for their function, those vampirelings stepped upon those walls before turning to ashes. ''So this is how they were protecting themselves from those monsters, huh? Pretty neat,'' I thought as I looked at those symbols. I mean, the calming energying from the symbols was fascinating, but I was more interested in the symbols themselves. Maybe I could learn to recreate those symbols? It certainly didn''t seem impossible. ''Anyways. Let''s circle around the wall first,'' I thought as I began running around the city walls while keeping an eye on the map. There were two things that I was checking on the map. First was to see if that Vampire Baron appeared. While it may be really hard to find him among the horde of monsters, there was no harm in checking out on the map. The other thing that I was observing on the map was the inner aspect of the city. ''Seems like a medieval fantasy setting,'' I thought as I looked at the marbled houses and shops. For some reason there were no NPCs or yers visible on the map. Perhaps they were deeper into the city because of the vampires? Could be possible. Killing those vampirelings, I kept running around the city wall. And as time passed, I found it a bit creepy that not even a single guard was present on the city walls. I mean I did pass a gate but even that was empty with not even a single NPC guarding the city. ''Do they trust the symbol lights that much, or are they that scared of the vampires? Or was there something else going on?'' I narrowed my eyes at the map as I kept focusing on the city, hoping to find at least one NPC in there. ''If I think outside the box then¡­ The quest was to stop and not to kill the Baron Vampire¡­'' I then began questioning things from various angles. What if the Vampires were the good guys? Strange questions started popping up in my mind as I kept moving. Though¡­ ''Should I indulge in these thoughts or not?'' I pondered as a single wrong analysis would make things gopletely south. I must be really careful with how I take this entire situation. I then stopped moving as I just stood there for a while, clearing my thoughts with a deep breath. Closing my eyes, I gave it a few moments before the answer appeared right in front of me. "So the only one who can answer my questions is the Baron Vampire, huh? Hopefully he has intelligence or else¡­" I then shook my head before focusing on the map again. And once again I began running as I kept checking for the Baron Vampire while keeping an eye on the city. ¡­ [Evelin''s POV!] We were taken to the castles where the King of this city exined the situation to us. If I were to brief it, we, the yers, were called by the sacrifice of 3 Saintesses to prevent the Vampires from taking over thest human city. The entire world has lost against the vampires, with them being present everywhere now. And now, ording to that king, we are supposed to prevent the destruction of what''s left of humanity, kill all the vampires and make humanity the most dominant species again. "This seems like a load of bullshit," Levi spoke as he stood by the balcony, observing the forest in the distance. Currently, we were in a room provided by the king. Since the castle was mostly empty, a single room was assigned to 4 yers each. "So what should we do?" Avida asked, as she stretched without much concern. The task of thinking was mostly for Levi and me, since we are the one who would guide the group in this task. "Firstly, let''s find out more about the people of this castle. Levi, can I leave that task to you?" I asked as I looked at him, I was going to do a bit of searching within the castle. In ways that these royals and nobles probably won''t appreciate. "I can. Though something feels ominous about the scenario itself," Levi seemed a little tense making me close my eyes for a moment before speaking," take Invar with you then. Avida, try and see if you find something odd in the market. Observe the people." All of them nodded before they began leaving the room. And while they took the door, I used the skill [Camouge!]. It was a skill that allowed me to mix myself with the surroundings. [Blink!] And as for my second skill, [Blink!], it allowed me to teleport about 5 meters ahead of me. It was one of the skills that I got from my [Gift: Nightwatcher!]. Choosing the direction, I then teleported from one balcony to another, until I reached an open area. It was a huge balcony that was connected with the main hall. If I remember correctly, the throne room was just across the hall and beyond that was the prince''s chamber. ''All right. Let''s start from there,'' I thought as I ran through the darker areas of the hall, avoiding the guards ced around the hall. My eyes looked at the 50 guards in the hall, as I masked my breath as low as possible. ''Too many guards,'' I saw them from the corner of my eyes before I reached the edge of the hall. Though before I could even see the door of the prince''s room, I found the other hall was filled with another dozen of those guards. ''Just what are you guys hiding?'' I questioned before taking a step back and then running back to the balcony area. Since the way through the main gate was blocked, let''s try and see if we can get through the balcony. [Blink!] [Blink!] [Blink!] [Blink!] [Blink!] Using [Blink!] five times at once, I exhausted all the amount I could use for now. Should take about 5 more minutes before I could use another one. Though, at the very least, I was on the third floor now. ''Should I go from inside? Hmmm¡­ nope. Let''s keep tracing the outer wall until we reach prince''s balcony,'' I decided as I waited for another 30 minutes to store 5 more [Blink!] and then began jumping from one balcony to another. Where there were no balconies, I used [Blink] to reach there. And after some effort of saving and using [Blink!], I was finally able to reach the balcony of the prince. Unsurprisingly, there were two more guards inside the room. Though¡­ "Please control yourself, prince! We cannot lose you! We have already lost the king, we can''t lose you as well! We finally have the heroes to support us! Please do not give up your humanity, now of all the times," that king, whomanded us before, was now panicking as he used some form of chain skill to bind and control the prince. As for the prince, he was wriggling in pain, as he growled like an animal. Even though I was standing quite far from him, I could feel the bloodlusting out of that prince. He struggled to break the chains as I wondered what was going on. And then suddenly, that prince stopped his movements, before his eyes turned towards me. His deep red eyes were bleeding in ck color. He looked at me, with a crazy frantic look as I finally realized¡­ The prince has turned into a Vampire. Chapter 65: [The Dark Night!] The 18 year old prince''s gaze was fixed at the balcony where Evelin was standing. Observing the situation, Evelin took out her crossbow and pointed at the prince. But since he wasn''t moving, Evelin also didn''t make any shot. As for the ''king'' and the guards, they panicked even more when they saw the prince''s gaze was dead set on the balcony. They wondered if there was something beyond the balcony in the forest at which the prince was focused, not being able to notice Evelin''s presence. "Prince?" The king spoke but the vampire prince didn''t make a single sound as it stood there. Though before any confrontation could take ce, someone else barged into the room from the main gate. -THUD! "Sir Abroth! How is the prince- AAA!!!" A women wearing a nun like robe that covered her entire body except her head, entered into the room. She looked at the vampire prince with a scared look before she ran towards him and chanted, "[Purification!] [Uncurse!][By the holy gods! Purify the soul of thy humble servant! Save him from the darkness of this world! Greater Purify!]" The ''king'' Abroth panicked as he shouted,"Saintess Amia! What are you doing? Are you trying to kill the prince?!!" With a bit of fury mixed in with the panic, he red at Amia before he turned to the guards. Though as he was about tomand the guards, a voice stopped him from making any movements. "Stop it Abroth. You are making my ears hurt," the Prince, who was previously turning into a vampire, was now healed to some extent. Even though the demonic bloodlust lingered around him, he was still much better than a few moments ago. Even his red eyes had turned blue, giving it a noble look as they matched with the blonde hair of his. "Prince Rehan! You are alive!" Ecstatic, Abroth made a joyful expression as he called out the prince''s name. Even the guards who were panicking were now much more relieved than before. "Just barely. Thank you saintess. It seems I can live a few more days," the prince, Rehan, observed his body for a few seconds before he looked at the Saintess. "YOU HIGHNESS!" Amia bowed on her knees before she continued," I have grave news." Rehan''s eyes narrowed as he looked at Amia before she continued," as I was charging the holy runes tonight, I sensed the presence of a high-grade vampireing from the east." A panic ensued on the guards'' faces as well as Abroth before Rehan asked,"how strong?" "At least a Baron Vampire," Amia answered with her expression slowly turning grim as well. Though the prince was calm. He gave it a rational thought before he turned to Abroth and asked,"how about the heroes? Can they fight?" "My lord. I found about 5 of them that were stronger than the others. They should be able to fight but sadly, they are mostly inexperienced. From the way they carried their weapons, it''s as if they had never lifted a weapon in their lives." Abroth answered without hiding anything. "Weak, huh?" Rehan mumbled as he looked at the window. Even though it was barely visible, he could feel the presence of someone present there. Though as soon as he focused there, the presence vanished making him narrow his eyes. "My lord?" Abroth asked, while Rehanmanded, "Call out all the heroes. Even if we are going to go down, let''s at least give our best before we fall. Let''s show them that humanity isn''t something that can easily trample on." "As you wish, your highness!" The others nodded as they began moving from there while Rehan walked towards the balcony, looking at forest beyond the city walls. Though as he focused, he found something odd¡­ the green forest was somehow¡­ more barren than it was before. His eyes narrowed at the faint lighting from the forest. ''What is that?'' He questioned trying to take a better look at it. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] "Just how long do I need to wait?" I thought as I switched to [Sword of Grace!] instead. Since the number of monsters were much less than before, I decided I should try and practice my sword in the meanwhile. -sh! -sh! -sh! I had already circled around the city and filled most of the gap. It is pretty much midnight now, with only 6 hours remaining until the daybreak arrives. My [Gift]''s currentpletion reached 90% by the end of mapping, so I decided to change my objective and improve my sword stance. It''s not like I was aplete beginner either. Just that what I learnt was pretty much the basics that Invar guided me through during our free time. -sh! -sh! -sh! So right now, I was trying to master the basics while adjusting my own speed and reflexes. -sh! For now, I could take about 5 or 6 monsters at once, killing them each in a single sh. Though I still can''t feel like I was doing it right. Just what did Invar tell me before? [elerated Learning!] ''Focus on your body first,'' I took a deep breath as I lessened the grip on my sword. My body, each and every part of it, I maintained a slow moving stance that allows me to feel my entire body at once. ''Feel the weight of your weapon,'' I recalled the next words that he used to tell me. I then swung that sword a couple of times, trying to gauge it''s weight. Perhaps it was because of [elerated Learning!] or was it because of [Perfect Measurement!], I was able to feel the weight of the entire sword. As a whole, as well as of each of the part. ''Feel it''s motion. Feel it''s depth,'' I took a deep breath as I shed one of the iing monsters. -sh! Not this. It''s not this. -sh! Hmmm¡­ the sh felt too crude. -sh! sh! sh! A bit more. I can see the flow. -sh! "This!" My eyes focused on the sh that I just did. And moving that sword again, I made a few empty shes in the air before another monster reached closer to me. -sh! "Perfect," I smiled as I didn''t feel a single resistance while cutting through that monster. Though this wasn''t all¡­ there was something else that Invar used to tell me. What was it, again? I closed my eyes for a second as I felt the slight headacheing up. Though I took a deep breath before focusing. Thest line that Invar told me¡­ ''It''s not exactly possible given how it takes years of experience¡­ but thest step is¡­ to be one with the weapon,'' I recalled his exact words as I tried to synchronize my entire body with the sword. My weight. My bnce. My movements. My breath. I took a deep breath as the headache kept getting worse. A few more seconds and it will go out of control. "Damn it!" I then opened my eyes again as I cut the iing monsters. Surely it wasn''t easy. My head was throbbing really hard as the pain became close to unbearable. A few seconds more and I would have even lost consciousness. With a heavy breath, I fell on the ground as I used [Illusion] to hide myself again. Creating another illusion of myself, I then made that illusion run away from here. That illusion baited the rest of the monsters, while Iid on the ground taking a break, recovering my strength. ''Seems like I need to contact Invar again,'' I thought as I looked in the direction of the city for a few seconds before observing the [Map]. I didn''t expect much from it, but my eyes then suddenly locked on a single red dot on the map that was different from the others. That red dot had a pinkish hue on it, much different from the deep red that other monsters had. And zooming in on that pinkish hue, I finally found the guy I was waiting for the past 6 hours. The Vampire Baron was finally here. ¡­ [Location: East Forest - 5 kilometers away from the city!] The Vampire Baron walked towards the city one step at a time. He had long deep red hair, and skin whiter than snow. His ck cornea over his red pupil, gave him a demonic look that matched with the long red coat that he was wearing. Beneath that red cloak, there was a in white shirt and ck pants, that barely had any ornamental features. Carrying a ck rose in his left hand and a red book in the other, he walked towards the city while observing the destroyed forest in front of him. He put that flower in his left chest pocket while the book vanished from his hand. "Just what happened here? Did the Prince fight by himself? No that cannot be," the baron spoke as he narrowed his eyes at the mass destruction in front of him. Even his children, the vampirelings which should have been at least 10,000 in number, were barely 100 now. He wasn''t afraid of what he needed to face, since he was already given the order by his majesty. But looking at what was present in front of him, he couldn''t help but be cautious of what he might face. ''My children might be weak but it''s a different story if 10,000 of them were to vanish¡­ was it a single person? Or was it a group?'' He pondered as he walked towards the city, his steps hastened a little. He even used a [Shadow] based skill, allowing him to reach near the city walls faster. Though he had to pause about 500 meters away from the city walls, as he undid his skill emerging from the shadow. As for the reason, it was the person in ck cloak, wearing a ck mask that was sitting about 200 meters in between him and the city walls. A tense atmosphere put the Baron on edge as he understood that the culprit that he was wondering about was sitting in front of me. The Baron was wondering what he should do next as prepared for a battle. "Made me wait for long enough," that man in ck mask spoke with a relieved voice, as he slowly raised his head, looking at the Baron with a hungry look as if he were looking at a food that arrivedte on the table. The Baron felt a sudden chill as he took a step back, before using a couple of his strength enhancing skills, as he got ready for the battle. "Who are you?" The baron asked with his eyes narrowed at that guy, though his words made that guy even more excited as he spoke, "So you can talk, huh?! This is good!" And the Baron tightened his fist even more than before. Chapter 66: [V/S Baron Vampire!] [Adrian''s POV!] [You have used all 5 mark points to mark (Baron Vampire: Irwin Edgard) as a target of your Hunt!] [+250 Agility] [+250 Strength!] [+250 Stamina!] [+1000 HP] [+1000 MP] [+100% Mana Regeneration!] [+100% HP Regenerations!] A temporary increase as I saw my stats going all the way up. Though one thing that made me curious was the fact that the skill didn''t register that Vampire Baron as a monster. ''Interesting,'' I thought as I then used [Illusion] to keep an ''Adrian'' sitting in the same position as I was before, while I stood up and began walking towards him. That Vampire kept observing ''Adrian'' with a cautious look, while I reached closer to him. -Whoosh! And within a second, I saw that baron reaching right behind ''Adrian'' as I kept observing him. He was fast, much much faster than I expected. If not for my enhanced senses using the [Hunt!], I wouldn''t even be able to follow his pace. Appearing right behind, ''Adrian'' he was just about to sh him with his sharpened nails, but I made that ''Adrian'' easily dodge him by erasing himself. And within the next second, I created another illusion of ''Adrian'' standing behind him. "Neat trick," I said using the echo feature of the mask, that allowed me to create any sound anywhere within 200 meters around me. It was a bit funny, since I could barely follow his movements. But to him, he must be getting more and more cautious of ''Adrian''s'' power and speed that was overwhelming him. "Who are you? Howe I have never heard of you?" That Baron asked as he looked at the ''Adrian'' standing behind him. His eyes were narrowed, while I spoke, "I am a Wanderer from another world. I just happened tond in this world. Since things seemed a bit interesting here, I then got my interest piqued. Can you tell me what is going on here?" "Another world?" That Baron narrowed his eyes at ''Adrian'' before he spoke," I am afraid that I have to bring you with me now. If not, I might have to kill you." -Whoosh! That baron reached closer to ''Adrian'' again, but because I can see his moves clearly, I made that illusion dodge each and every attack of that Baron with ease. I put an extra effort to make it look like he was ying around with that Baron. "Kill me?" I chuckled," just how highly do you think of yourself? Do you even know who you are fighting against?" That Baron vampire''s eyes started glowing red, as I saw about a hundred more Vampireling appearing from the forest far away. They were probably called by that Baron to attack ''Adrian,'' which made me sigh as I looked at the GM points that I have collected up until now. [GM Points: 11.3 Million] ''It might be a bit early for this but I guess,'' I then sighed as I changed the description of a skill that I had been keeping for a while now. It was about time I upgraded this one too. [Skill: Aura! Grade: C Effect: -Allows the user to imbue Mana into their weapons! The attack power of the weapon increases based on the amount of mana the User applies into the weapon! Restrictions: -The user must have their mana unlocked! -Wisdom must be greater than 20! -Minimum Mana required to activate Aura: 100MP -Maximum Mana that can be applied: 2500MP] It was a skill that I got from the [Shop] in the first tutorial. Though I stopped using it as soon as I got the [Twin Guns!] Because of obvious reasons. Earlier I kind of wanted to delete it since it was upying unnecessary space, but then I had a certain idea in my mind that I wondered if it was possible. It was to make that skill as my main [Mana Anchor] skill that would help me freely control all types of mana. But first¡­ [Skill: Aura! Grade: B Effect: -Allows the user to imbue Mana into their body and weapons! The attack power of the weapon increases based on the amount of mana the User applies into the weapon! The defense as well the physical stats of the user will increase based on the amount of mana that the user imbues! Mana Rtions: -For every 100 MP used, the weapon''s attack power increased by 5% -For every 100 MP used, the user''s stats increases by 2%! Effect time: -For every 100 MP, the effect would remain for 10 seconds! Each 100 MP used would have their own time limit!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 5 Million GM Points?!] An all purposebat skill that would increase my base abilities based on the mana I use. For example, if I currently have 280 Strength, I can put 5000 MP into the skill and make that 560. Same for my agility which is at 550 right now, will increase to 1100, crossing the 4 digit threshold. And since I have saved about [10,000 MP] in the gloves that I upgraded before, let''s put them to use here. -Whoosh! I first lured the baron towards me, as I made my illusion reach closer to me. Then making his body potion exactly the same as mine, I made him ovep my standing point as I erased its presence. The baron was fast as he reached closer to me within a second. Though¡­ [Aura!] [-5,000 MP!] As soon as I used the skill, my power exploded. The Baron, which was extremely fast before, now seemed to be moving much slower than before. I saw him approaching closer to me, before I took out the gun and spoke, "All right. It''s getting boring." [Twin Guns: Burst Mode!] -BOOM!!! I didn''t hit that guy''s head because I still had a few questions to ask him. Though instead, I sted his left arm while his body was blown away by the impact. The arm bled heavily, before beginning to heal at a slow pace. Not wasting any time, I reached closer to him, while those vampirelings behind me, almost covered the entire distance between us. "Annoying." [Twin Guns: Laser Mode!] And then, as I used my gun again, all of them vanished within a fraction of a second. Not even a single one of them was left alive. "¡­" I then turned back to the Baron who was observing me with a fear in his eyes. I doubt he used all of his skills and powers. He must have a lot of cards in his arsenal. But since I showed him the overwhelming difference between us, it would be rational to think that none of them would work against me. ''About 6 seconds left till the 10 seconds are over, huh?'' I thought before looking at his condition right now. If I didn''t kill him right now, there was a chance that he would go back and bring more stronger monsters. Honestly, I would love that. But on the other hand, will I be able to handle something of that caliber? [elerated Thinking!] ''And if I did kill him, I won''t be able to find any valuable information either. Plus what if the quest fails if I kill him? The quest said to stop and not kill. It''s a bit of a dilemma,'' I sighed as I didn''t know what to do right now. I wanted answers. I wanted to talk to him right now, but will he answer me? And that too within the next 6 seconds? All right, let''s try to get at least something within the next 5 seconds. Or else, I will just kill him. "Now, Mr Vampire. yed enough?" I asked as I looked at him. 5 seconds left. "You see, I came here to¡­" as I was talking, my skill [elerated Learning!] activated by itself while I observed him attacking me with his fist. There was a strange purple glow in his eyes, which made me wonder if I should avoid it. ''Hmmm. [Absolute Nullification] should cancel this attackpletely. Maybe I can use this chance to gain some leverage in my talk?'' I thought as I decided to take the attack. My skill can erase any first attack even up to S-Grade. And if I still get cursed or something, I can just use GM points to erase that curse. And even if everything goes wrong and I die, I will juste back to life due to that [Ring of resurrection!] ''Well, here goes nothing,'' I sighed as I saw his attack reaching my body. -Boom! [You have been attacked by a Corruption Skill! A Virus has attacked your System!] [Absolute Nullification! Absolute Nullification has been Corrupted! Absolute Nullification Failed!] [The Game Master System has noticed the foreign energy!] [The Game Master System has erased the foreign energy!] [The Game Master System has restored the Skill: Absolute Nullification!] [The Game Master System has upgraded the skill: Absolute Nullification by adding a Firewall feature!] [You are advised to use the Skill: Debug to clean the foreign energy source!] "¡­" "¡­" We both looked at each other for a few seconds before I smiled brightly. And touching his forehead that was sweating buckets now¡­ [Skill: Debug] I saw a strange purple energy crying out of his body, before it died downpletely. [You have erased a virusponent: Corruption Energy Source!] [+500,000 GM Points have been rewarded to you!] Looking at the map, where this baron''s presence was now shown in [Yellow] signifying that he was an NPC, and observing that his power level was barely 30% of what it was before, I couldn''t help but feel fascinated with this sudden twist. "Now. Shall we talk?" I spoke as a huge grin formed on my face. Chapter 67: [Olivia!] Location: Castle: Room of The Girl''s Group] [Olivia''s POV!] "Olivia. Wake up! We are being summoned!" Emily''s voice woke me up as I looked at her with a re before turning to the other side and getting into a morefortable position as I continued my sleep. I was having a nice dream, let''s continue- "OLIVIA!" Samantha shouted as I suddenly jolted out of the bed, standing up straight as I answered without thinking," I am awake mom. I promise I wasn''t-" Though my words halted, as I looked at the rest of the people there looking at me. Emily and Samantha were in their fighting outfit, as they both sighed before looking at others who were awake. "Why¡­ awaaah¡­ are they calling us thiste at night?" Julia, who was still in her shorts, yawned while stretching her arms as she asked the question. Mira, re and Tisha were already up and getting ready, as they observed Samantha for answers. "I think some monster is approaching the city. From the way they were panicking, it seems that the opponent is strong," Samantha answered as she drank a cup of coffee that she bought from the Tutorial with her. Tisha, who got changed as well, moved towards Samantha, took that cup of coffee from Samantha before taking a sip and speaking," Seems like the first quest was the only one easy. Though I am not surprised given how the previous tutorial was¡­ the setting is more or less simr." She then passed the cup back to Samantha and picked her bow up, while Mira added,"so does that mean the final level of the tutorial would be the longest?" "Probably?" Samantha answered without putting much thought in her words. Though Emily gave out her thoughts, "I don''t know. I mean, protecting the city is nearly impossible given the conditions. So, I am wondering what if it''s the opposite?" Her words piqued our attention as she continued,"I mean, what if we are supposed to lose the city? And the next tutorial begins after the city is lost?" Everyone turned quiet as they heard her words. It wasn''t too far off the mark given there was no penalty in failure of the quest. Instead there were just rewards depending upon how long the city stands. Though it doesn''t really matter as much. I stretched as I spoke out," well. Our work is to survive and do our best. Whether the city falls or not, what we need to do is watch our backs and survive as long as possible." Getting off the bed, I began changing my clothes as well. The others nodded at my words, as they calmed down before getting to their own works. It took me 20 minutes, but I was done with my changes. Increasing my Charm stat was actually one of the best things that I liked in this whole tutorial and stuff. My skin was radiating charming, I didn''t even need to put on makeup. Just the basics were enough. A smile appeared on my face as I checked myself in the mirror for onest time, before I moved out of the room where the others were waiting. Walking outside, we then reached the main hall where the other yers were present. I saw Alice, Alex and Mark, and our group moved closer to them. Among the people here in the tutorial, it was the only other group that we interacted with. Especially after the shit that Luke pulled in the tutorial. After that it was nearly impossible to get along with anyone from our ssmates. ''There was him, though,'' I thought as I recalled that guy. I haven''t seen him in the tutorial till now. Adrian. Julia''s crush. ''Did he not make it? But he did tell Julia that he made it to the next tutorial,'' I thought as I didn''t find him as the lying type. Perhaps he is hiding for now? Why does he act so mysterious? "Olivia. What do you think about the Prince?" Tisha spoke up, making me wake up from my stupor as I looked at her, before observing the prince standing near the throne. He looked exactly like he should. A prince from a fantasy story. "So and so," I answered honestly. Never fancied the prince and such, I like people who had a free will mostly, people who weren''t bound to one ce. Like a handsome adventurer. And I felt butterflies in my stomach just thinking about meeting someone like that. "But he is so damn hot!" Tisha spoke out as she was surprised to hear my words. Ah! She was someone who liked princes and such. Totally forgot about that. Make that prince a vampire too, and she might fall head over heel for him. I sighed before I saw that the prince was about to give his speech now. "Heroes! As you all may have already been informed, I am the Prince of this Kingdom, Prince Rehan. Our world has already been taken over by the fanged monsters, and we are all that''s left of humanity. I am truly apologetic for pulling you into this situation, but please help us protect this dying kingdom," he spoke as he then looked at the girl in the nun-like dress beside him. She nodded before she walked at front began speaking, "I am Saintess of Light, Amia. I know that all of you must be confused and tired, but suddenly we noticed the presence of a Baron Vampireing towards us. He is a strong monster that can eradicate the entire city on his own. I am truly sorry that we are asking you to fight on the same day that you are summoned here, but please¡­ lend us a hand protecting us from the monsters." She then kneeled on the ground before putting her head on the ground. We all looked at her with an odd expression, wondering what we should speak now. ''Honestly, it''s awkward,'' I thought as I looked at what was going on. And on a second thought, even though I feel bad for thinking this but¡­ ''it''s cliche and cringy.'' Though¡­ [New Quest: The Saintess'' Plead! Diffculty: Hard! Description: A grave danger approaches you as the Baron Vampire moves towards the city. As the heroes that are called to protect the city, it is your duty to safeguard it! Objective: Either Kill the Baron Vampire or prevent him from destroying the city until sunrise! Time Limit: 6 hours! Rewards: +10 Skill Points! Penalty: -2 Skill Points; The city will be destroyed!] A sudden quest appeared in front of us, while we kept staring at the status window. And not even a few secondster. "We will help you!" One of the men spoke, as the others nodded. "Yeah!" "We will fight!" "Don''t worry Saintsess! We will fight!" "We will fight!" "We will fight!" "We will fight!" I don''t know who started this cringy line, but everyone started chanting the same. I sighed, at the very least, this was better than the awkward silence we had before. Rewards sure do motivate the masses. Though as the chant was going on, something rather unexpected ured. [Quest: The Saintess Plead ispleted!] [+10 Skill Points!] "Wait what?" Not just me, but everyone looked nkly at those system messages. Our eyes widened as the Saintess, who was bowing with her head down, now was up as she observed the forest through the window beyond the hall. "Huh?" She was shocked as her eyes widened while the prince, who was confused by the sudden silence, asked out,"Amia. What happened?" "He¡­ died¡­ that vampire¡­" she looked at the prince with an expression of disbelief as she continued,"¡­ it died." ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] A few minutes ago. "Now. Shall we talk?" I asked as I smiled at that guy, though his fear filled eyes shook as he took a step back. "Who¡­ are¡­ you?" He spoke as gulped, barely able to keep himself standing. "Na na na! You lost your chance to ask questions. From now on, I will be the one asking questions," I spoke as I took my first step towards him. I could see him frantically looking for a way to escape but given his reduced stats, I doubt he would be able to. "Goddess Geira! I offer my soul to you!" He spoke, as I realized what he was trying to do. I moved towards him as fast as I could, trying to make him stop- [Quest: Survive the Night Complete!] [+ Artifact: Skill Desconstructor!] "Fuck!" I cursed as my steps halted, observing the body of that vampire, falling on the ground without any signs of life, before it vanished from there as it turned into dust. It was anti-climatic. I didn''t like it. I hated it. And then everything paused around me as I saw the [Game Master] screen appearing in front of me again. Observing the same panels, I first spent a few seconds feeling dejected for the loss that I just made. But then I shook my head before looking at the rewards. I guess I should just be happy with what I made. Now with the rewards¡­ [Quest: He who bathes in Moon and Blood Completed!] [+Artifact: Skill Deconstructor!!] [Quest: They awaken during the night Completed!] [Calcting the number of monsters you have killed!] [You have killed 24725 E-Grade Monsters and 421 D-Grade Monsters!] [+31,645 Skill Points Have been rewarded!] [You have won the Bet!] [+250 Million GM Points!] ''It was about time, I got at least one of my skills to S-Grade as well,'' I thought as I began looking at the details of the quests. Chapter 68: [First S-Grade skill!] [Artifact: Skill Deconstructor! Grade: S Status: Bound to Adrian John Rodriguez! Effects: Allows the user to convert Skill Cards into Skill Points! Card Conversion Rates: -10 F Grade Cards: 1 Skill Point -1 E-Grade Card: 1 Skill Point -1 D-Grade Card: 10 Skill Points -1 C-Grade Card: 100 Skill Points -1 B-Grade Card: 1000 Skill Points -1 A-Grade Card: 10,000 Skill Points -1 S-Grade Card: 100,000 Skill Points] "Neat," I thought as I looked at the description of the artifact. From the number of cards that I have right now, getting another 24000 Skill points was feasible. This way, I can have about 50k Skill points. ''Given each B-Grade skill requires roughly around 10,000 Skill points to get to A-Grade, I can essentially have 5 A-Grade skills, huh?'' I thought as I can now bring almost all of my skills to B-Grade and above. Though first things first¡­ [Bets!] [Bet on the number of survivors that are going to be at the end of tutorial 5 X10] "Hmmm? Just this one?" I was confused. I looked at the bets as I reloaded the screen a couple of times, but this was the only bet present this time. It made me a bit sad as I closed the [Bets] before looking at the number of GM Points I currently had now. [GM Points: 256 Million!] ''This will be enough for an S-Grade skill right?'' I pondered as I recalled that almost all of the skills that I had made up to S-Grade were somewhere in the 500 Millions or above. Though, there was one more concern that I had other than this one. Which skill should I upgrade? And what kind of S-Grade skill should I choose first? [Hunt] and [Perception!] are out of the question given how I wanted a superhuman skill to rece it. [elerated Learning!] and [Illusion!] can be upgraded, but do I really need them right now? I mean, they are functioning properly even against a Baron Vampire. [Professional Cooking!] is just there while [Absolute Nullification!] is already good enough as a secret defense skill, anything more would be overkill. [Inventory], I don''t exactly need to upgrade it, do I? [Mana Regeneration!] [Mana Sense!]. Should I make them as a single skill? Nope, I think I should make changes to [Aura] and incorporate it into a skill that does the same function as [Mana Regeneration!] and [Mana Sense!]. That way, I can have 2 more skill slots free. Then all that''s left is this¡­ [Parkour!] An E-Grade skill that helped me a lot in both the first tutorial and during the safe zone. In essence, it was a great skill even while being an E-Grade. ''How about if I upgrade it to A-Grade first and see its effect?'' I thought it was the only skill remaining in E-Grade right now. And then giving it a bit of a thought, I used 11,110 skill points to make it reach A-Grade. There were no down sides to it. The skill then started glowing bright golden, before the light slowly faded. I had to close my eyes for a few moments before I looked at the new description [Skill: Kic Mastery! Grade: A Description: Allows the individual to have perfect control over their body and environment, enhancing the core principles of parkour to an almost limitless degree. Effects: -Instant Adaptation: The ability to assess and move through any environment seamlessly, no matter howplex or dangerous, without any need for prior knowledge of the terrain. -Enhanced Agility and Reflexes: The person can move at incredible speeds, react instantaneously to changes in the environment, and execute perfect flips, jumps, and rolls in mid-air. -Environmental Maniption: Not only could the user use objects like walls or poles to boost momentum, but they could also momentarily alter their properties (e.g., making a wall more stic to rebound off it or a surface stickier for gripping). -Momentum Maniption: The user would have control over inertia, allowing them to conserve, redirect, or cancel momentum. This could lead to feats like running up walls indefinitely, leaping across vast distances, or stopping instantly from a high-speed movement. -Teleportation via Movement: With enough momentum, the user could essentially blur through space, appearing to "blink" between two locations, making them almost impossible to track when in motion. -Gravity Defiance: The ability to manipte the body and environment allowing them to reduce the effects of gravity on themselves, letting them momentarily hang in the air, bounce off impossible angles, or make enormous leaps and drops without harm. Restrictions: The limits of this skill is based upon the limits of the user''s stats!] "¡­" A huge text wall appeared in front of me as I observed the entire thing for a few seconds. Then, as I began reading through everything, my mouth was opened up wide as I looked at the entire thing over and over. "How the fuck is this an A-Grade Skill?!!!" I shouted out loud as I looked at that skill. It was a total cheat! It was excellent! Perfect! An art! I could control momentum itself to deal dozens of times more damage. I can use kic maniption to run extremely fast, enough to even evade normal vision. I can manipte gravity to some extent? The heck! Why isn''t an S-Grade skill? Or more importantly, if this was A-Gade, then what monstrous technique would I get at S-Grade? For the next 20 minutes or so, I kept gleefully looking at the skill over and over again. I was almost tempted to upgrade this skill to S-Grade, but then I controlled myself. Being greedy was never going to be helpful no matter what the situation. I took a deep breath. Meditated for a few seconds, before clearing my mind and began thinking about the present situation. Even though [Kic Mastery] was fucking fantastic, it wasn''t what I needed right now. At least not beyond what I had already got. I didn''t need any mana skills either. Thebination of [Aura] and the others were already enough for me tost this next tutorial. As for the mental skills, let''s just bring [elerated Learning to A-Grade as well. [elerated Thinking! Grade: A Effects: -Allows the user to think 10 times faster! -Allows the user toprehend things 200% faster! -Increases the Focus of the user by 200%! When learning and understanding new things, the user will be able to analyze things 2 times faster! -Increases the Learning proficiency by 100%!] The cost was 10,000 Points again, but looking at the skill it was worth it. There was no more headache, which was pretty much a boon to the skill. I guess, even though it doesn''t have a boatload of text like [Parkour!], it was still an A-Grade skill. In fact, all the A-Grade skills are monstrous in a way. With this, physical, mental and mana aspects were done. For the time being, I did not need anything more than what I had in those parts. So, that brings me back to the main question. ''Which skill should I get to S-Grade?'' I pondered over it, as I sat down and even used [elerated Thinking!], to aid in my thoughts. And after going through everything for a dozen minutes, I could only think of one skill that I would need right now, more than the others. The protagonist''s main skill: [Inspect!] ''But I probably won''t need it when the [Map] gets upgraded further?'' I was in a bit of a dilemma again. Though a sudden idea appeared in my mind again. I never needed an [Inspect!] skill to be honest¡­ there was something else, a far better option for me. And then I began making changes to my only mental skill [elerated Thinking], once again. This time, a detailed change to itsplete settings. [elerated Analysis! Grade: S Effects: -Allows the user to deduce and analyze anything that he sees. The [Status Window!] of all things around the user will be shown to the user. The user can also partially see the functions and effects of various objects! -Time taken to analyze the object/person will depend upon the grade of the object/user! -The User''s thinking ability will be enhanced, making him think 10 times faster, allowing him toprehend things 200% times faster. When focussed, theprehension and analysis increased by another factor of 2. Each time the user analyzes a new S-Grade item or above, the learning efficiency of the user will permanently increase by 1%!] [Would you like to make the following changes for 650 Million Points?!] ''All right. Now let''s bring the cost down,'' I smiled as I began adding a couple of restrictions to it. And honestly, it took only 3 restrictions to make it reach 250 Million Points. [Restrictions: -The User must have a [Gift] rted to mental ability! -The User must have [Eidetic Memory] and [Perfect Measurement] skills! -The User must have the [Blessing: Thoth''s Wisdom!] to use the skill!] Almost typed ''Thot''s wisdom'' there. Anyways, with those three restrictions, I got the skill down for [250 Million GM Points!] exactly. I guess, those skills I have are kind of needed for the Analysis, so having them before, brings the total cost of the skill down by half. Plus as for the [Thoth''s Wisdom], [Blessing: Thoth''s Wisdom! Grade: B Effect: By the grace of the Egyptian God, your total Widom has increased by 5%!] [Would you like to create the Blessing for 4 Million Points?] With that, I was once again back in the range of 2 million points. I should keep this much with me in case of an emergency. Clicking [Yes!] again, I then stretched as I finally had my first [S-Grade!] skill. Though, the work was far from done as something else was majorly left. That was to convert the skill into skill points. Even though I wasn''t going to use those skill points, I decided that it should be better to keep the inventory rtively empty. And after another hour of hard work¡­ [Skill Points: 32410!] ''If I could just collect enough skill cards and make that number into 100,000, maybe I can have another S-Grade skill?'' I thought for a moment before then looking at the rest of the messages that I had. Though there was only one panel left to check. [Quests!] -Normal Quest: 1 -Continuity Quest: 5 -Skill Based Quest: 3 -Hidden Quest: 10 -Unique Quest: 3 -??? Quest: 1 I began looking at the quests one by one, hoping to find at least some information about the situation I was in. And as I was reading through them, I came across a certain quest that made question the entire meaning of the [Tutorial!] again. Though more than that a re entered into my eyes as I narrowed my eyes at the rest of the description of that particr quest. I closed my eyes for a few seconds as I recollected my thoughts. And then, barely controlling my rage, I opened my eyes up before I mumbled. "Seems like¡­ I would need to wipe an entire race this time." This time¡­ I was going to destroy the very city that I was protecting all night. Chapter 69: [Tutorial 5: Quests!] [Adrian'' POV!] When I first began looking at the quests, I got a simple quest without any proper direction. [Normal Quest!] [Quest: Protect the City! Difficulty: Impossible! Objectively: Protect the city for as long as possible! Time limit: None! Rewards: Will be based on the time the city survives!] I was confused due to theck of information it provided. Though I didn''t think much of it as I began looking at the next quests. [Continuity Quests!] [Re-establish the Glory of the City! You will receive +1 Skill Points for each of the tasks that you perform! -Removing the Symbols of Holy Light from outside the city walls! -Killing each Otherworlders that has invaded the city! -Saving each Vampire within the city! -Destroying each of the [Consumer] that are present within the city! -Hunting down the [Watch Dogs of Sun God!] that appear randomly within the city!] As I read the text, my eyes narrowed at them. I had guessed it before, but from the description of these, it seems like¡­ the Vampires aren''t really the bad guy here. ''So killing that Baron Vampire was a wrong move? Nope. It was purely self defense¡­ plus hemitted suicide so it wasn''t exaclty my fault,'' I gave it a bit of a thought before looking at the rest of the quests. Seems like the development of the story got rather interesting. [Skill Based Quests!] [Quest: The one who will free them! Difficulty: Insane Skill Required: Any Combat based skill! Description: The Kingdom has fallen in thends of the [Otherworlders!] and the natives of the city were being held in the underground of the city, against their will. Their blood is being forcefully sucked out of their body and is being used to create a serum that gives temporary boost to the [Otherworlders!]. Even though they want to escape from this never ending madness, the 7 [Royal Guards!] sent by the [God of Sun!] are guarding their escape, rendering them unable to do anything. Objective: Kill the 7 [Royal Guards!] and free the path for the NPC to escape. Reward: +1000 Skill Points + [A-Grade Combat Limited skill upgrade coupon!] ] [Quest: The one who will revert them! Difficulty: Insane! Skill Required: Any Mana based skill! Description: The mana within the city has been shifted to [Holy Mana!] that consumes Vampiric energy at an increased rate. It reduces the Vampires powers to an enhanced degree, and allows the [Otherworlders] to forcefully take Vampiric to use on themselves without any restrictions. Objectives: -Remove the source of this energy conversion! -Convert all the Holy Mana into Normal Mana. Reward: +1000 Skill Points + [A-Grade Mana Limited Skill Upgrade Coupon] ] [Quest: The one who will Protect them! Difficulty: Insane! Skill Required: Any Defense based skill! Description: After the holy mana will be disintegrated and the NPCs will be set free, the [Sun God''s Wrath!] will be released upon the city! Objective: -Defend the iing attack until the time limit is over! Time limit: [Not yet defined!] Rewards: +1000 Skill Points + [A-Grade Defense Limited Skill Upgrade Coupon] ] "So¡­ it''s that type of scenario, huh?" I analyzed the situation for a few seconds before I understood the gist of it. The scenario is pretty much straightforward. The humans, which in this case are from another world, are the bad guys while this entire world is vampiric in a sense. They are the main natives of this world who lived and thrived, while the humans just happen tond here from somewhere. Honestly¡­ The first quest might truly confuse all the yers, making them lose their life before they could even realize what is going on. Or they might be used to kill the vampires while the real viins would just sit by and rx, huh? I thought as I sighed at the entire scenario before looking at the [Hidden Quest!]. This time there were a lot of them, so I wonder what they were all about. Hopefully it would let me find some crucial information about the situation [Hidden Quests!] [Quest: The cry of the Fallen Prince! Difficulty: Insane! Description: The Kingdom of Reiga has been taken over by the humans. Even though they could have killed all the vampires, they decided to treat them as livestock, using their blood for their own purposes. One of the Vampires, the Fallen Prince Lincoln, a mere 12 years old boy, was thrown into the underground prison, bing a mere ything for the Saintess'' pleasures. He is barely able to keep his sanity, but given how he is tortured every night, he won''t be able to survive for long. Objective: Save the Fallen Prince from the clutches of the Saintess Time limit: 7 Days! Reward: [ Next Chain Quest - The Last Hope of Reiga!] ] [Quest 2: The Last Hope of Reiga (Undefined until the quest (The Cry of the Fallen Prince) ispleted!] [Quest 3: A war of two worlds (Undefined until the quest (The Last Hope of Reiga) ispleted!] [Quest 4: Redemption of the Cruel King! Difficulty: Insane! Description: The Last King of Humans was murdered by Aboth, the head Minister, because he was against the methods of the ministry regarding the ways of dealing with the Vampires. Even though he was in favor of conquest, he was against the methods of cruelty towards the Vampires. Though with the help of his trusted servants, he was able to escape death somehow. Unfortunately, he has now be a vampiric ve working under the city. Objective: Find the Cruel King and help him achieve his redemption! Reward: [Item: Ring of the Lone King!] ] [Quest 5: The Prince''s ways of things! Difficulty: Insane! Description: Prince Rehan is nning to take control over the iing heroes, trapping them within the castle. His aim is to use the yers as fuel to generate enough energy to charge the ancient runes. He would go as far as possible to achieve his life long goal. Objective: Find a way to break the imprisonment spell! Reward: [Title: Savior!] ] [Quest 6: The Dead Saintesses plea! Difficulty: Impossible! Description: The Saintesses used to summon the Heroes and before, were forced to kill themselves in exchange for power. It wasn''t their choice but their families and friends were threatened, and in exchange they had no choice but to sumb to the Cruel King. Objective: Find the wandering Ghosts of the Dead Saintesses and listen to their request! Reward: [Chain Quest: Angels'' Request!] ] [Quest 7: Angels'' Request (Undefined until (The Dead Saintess'' Pleas!) ispleted!] A re entered my eyes, as I read through those quests. I am not a kind person, I know it''s bad what they did with the vampires. Even though I would have still saved those vampires, I would have definitely done it for the rewards rather than the people itself. But it''s a different thing if they were going to target my friends. To use them as a power source? Just who the fuck do they think they are to do that? ''I will fucking kill the prince¡­ no. I will make sure he begs me for death. Same goes for the other filthy bastards,'' I vowed in my mind as I looked at the quests before calming myself a bit. [Unique Quests!] [Quest 1: The War of Two Worlds! Difficulty: Impossible! Status: The Quest won''t start until all the [Hidden Quests!] arepleted! Description: As the war between the Goddess of Darkness and God of Light continues, the tension between the two worlds increases. The World that was cherished by the goddess of darkness was being threatened by the God of Light! The God of Light will do anything to take over this world. He has used his powers to call upon the heroes from a different dimension, and has decided to use their power to fuel his own soldiers. He will go through any means necessary to achieve power, even going as far to take over the souls of all those which he has captured and make them their eternal ves. The Humans have already taken a step over a city in this new world, and with their unbeatable power, they will soon take over other cities, making everything sustainable for their own self, for their original race, ''The Humans from World: Ri'' And this won''t stop until at least one of the races ispletely dead. Objective: Pick a side and fight for what you believe in! Rewards: [Chain Quest: Till Last breath!] ] [Quest 2: Till Last Breath! (Undefined until the quest (War of the Two Worlds) ispleted!] [Quest 3: Fight against a God! (Undefined until the quest (Till Last Breath!) ispleted!] My eyes observed the description a couple of times before a vein began bulging on my forehead. It is fine if you want to take over your rival''s world. It''s fine if you were going to fulfill your aim of domination. But you just had to bring me and my friends into it¡­ ''This is a bit sad. It''s going to be too time consuming¡­ I wish to rx but¡­ it''s necessary¡­'' I thought as I then muttered in a low voice, "Seems like¡­ I would need to wipe an entire race this time." I should start with that damned kingdom first. I sighed before looking at thest quest, even though I had already lost interest in it. I just wanted to go there and massacre everything right now. But still¡­ Let''s not hurry. Hurrying will only end up in me making more mistakes. [Quest: ??? Difficulty: ??? Description: ??? Objective: ??? Rewards: ???] "¡­" I¡­ didn''t know what to say. I mean¡­ What''s the point of even showing me this? "Well. Not like I can do anything about it," I sighed as the information I had just received from all these quests was too much. I had to sit down and reassess everything that I had learned up until now. If I am going to destroy the entire kingdom, even the world perhaps, then I might need to n more than just a couple of things. I can''t just run and destroy everything now, can I? And since I had all the time in the world here in this stopped space, I began plotting everything that I needed to do. Chapter 70: [Night in the Castle!] [Adrian''s POV!] "I wonder¡­ mmh¡­ how much time has passed," I stretched as I was finally done with all the nning. And with everything done, I was more or less satisfied with what I had nned. Taking onest look at everything, I then clicked [Continue!] as the same [Normal Quest] appeared on my blue screen, telling me to protect the city. [Kic Mastery!] I then tested my new skill, wondering how good it is. -Whoosh! And as I moved, I felt like I was swimming in a river, along the stream. Even though the entire path was distorted with all the destruction, I felt like I was running on an empty path. -Whoosh! Changing the momentum, and controlling the gravity a bit, I then increased my speed as I ran at least 5 times faster than before. A smile appeared on my face as if I could reach anywhere in this world. With each step taken, I already knew where the next 10 steps were gonna be. What should have taken 10 minutes to cross, took only a minute as I found myself standing in front of the wall of the city. ''All right. Let''s first get in,'' I thought as I erased my presence before jumping up the wall and entering into the city. As much as I expected, the entire city seemed dead. There was not a single soul present as far as 500 meters around me. Jumping off the wall, I then moved towards the central castle in the city. The city was pretty wide, almost 10 kilometers in radius. Though given my increased stats and [Kic Mastery], somehow that distance felt like a kilometer at best, with the castle 500 meters away. -Whoosh! Increasing my speed even more as I pushed my skill to the limit, I tried to run as fast as I could. Creating a gust of wind around me, I ran as fast as possible, covering the entire distance in less than a minute. 54 seconds to be exact. And as I was about to crash into the city wall, I shifted my momentum to minimum, controlling the inertia of my body, as I stopped immediately without any damage to my body. All that speed which could have squashed me against the wall, was gone. I just stood there smiling gleefully as I looked at the city gates. ''Hehe. This is fun,'' I chuckled before wiping that smile from my face and looking at the giant gate in front of me. ''Hmmm. The skill said that I can walk up the walls without much problem, right?'' I thought as I tried stepping up on the wall first. Even though it felt odd, when I shifted my center of gravity, and charged up my momentum, up the wall, walking somehow started bing natural to me. Walking up the wall, I reached the top as I saw the huge castle in front of me. That castle seemingly had three floors, with each floor being at least 50 meters high. Though the elevation was odd at ces due to terrain differences. Taking a few steps closer to the edge of the wall, I tried looking at the castle properly. [Your [Gift: Cartography] has been upgraded by 1 Grade!] ''Oh! It was about that point as well,'' I thought as I almost forgot about this. The changes were pretty simr as before, with each [Skill] increasing a bit in their aspect. The only noticeable feature was this new skill I got this time. [Gift: Spatial Sense Grade: C (directly proportional to the gift: Cartography) Effect: Allows the user to have spatial awareness of anything and everything around him in a radius of 60 meters!] ''Oh. That''s actually dope,'' I thought as I closed my eyes first and checked out the effect of the skill. Much to my surprise, I could sense everything present around me within 60 meters around me. Not in a sense like having a 3D map of everything around me, but more like having a real image of everything that is present. I could feel the movement of leaves against the wind, the texture of the wall, and even the interiors of the wall and stuff. Though it would take me a bit of time to get used to that vision. Shaking my head, I then opened my eyes and then began looking at the castle in front of me. "Now. Let''s first meet my old group," I thought as I located them on the [Map!] before erasing my presence. And then jumping off the wall, Inded without taking any damage. -Whoosh! And within a few seconds, I was at the front gate, which was open for some reason. There were 8 guards on the front gate, 4 on each side, keenly looking at the outer gate, which was left empty for some reason. ''Hmmm, let''s find things out slowly,'' I thought as I entered the castle. Though, the first thing that I did there was to look back, and then try to get out of the castle. [The gate is blocked by a Holy Energy Barrier! You do not have the key to exit the gate barrier!] ''Thought so,'' I sighed before turning back into the castle, as I walked towards the direction where my old teammates were. It''s about time, I put them to work. ¡­ [Alex''s POV!] It''s been 9 days since this whole stupid world went crazy. First there were zombies, then goblins, flying monsters and here we have Vampires. Honestly, I am tired. At first it was interesting. [Gift: The Heart of a Lion! Grade: Upper Mortal Grade-3 Effects: Allows the user to set a target for himself! The harder the target the more Will required by the user to fulfill it! And if the user seeds, the user can gain rewards based on the difficulty set by him! Additional Effects: -Growth of a Lionheart: For each task performed well, the user will get a random stat bonus between 1-5 Points. -Will of the Brave: For each time the user shows unbroken will, one of the user''s skills is randomly upgraded! -Rule Maker: For each additional rule you add to your condition, you will gain 2% of the total rewards as soon as the task is started!] With this Gift, I was able to kill all the zombies on my path to the third tutorial. I got some skills, some stats. It was fun. But reality hit me hard as my entire group got wiped out against 2 E-Grade Goblins. I underestimated them at that time¡­ I¡­ it was devastating. When I got to know that they were still alive in the safe zone, I took my time and went to find them. Couldn''t find them all but I was able to locate some. They cursed me to die in the next tutorial and asked me to never see them again. And when I offered them some points they spat on me before leaving from there. I felt bad for them, but in the end Alice told me to move on as we all were naive in that situation. Nobody could have known what would happen next. And to be fair it still applies to our current situation. ''I should man up a little, huh?'' I thought as I sighed as I looked at the wall of text in front of me. [The gate is blocked by a Holy Energy Barrier! You do not have the key to exit the gate barrier!] "Seems like our path is blocked, huh? What do you think?" Alice too observed the transparent wall in front of her before she asked the question to me. Currently we are investigating the situation around us. And for that purpose, we decided to check out the city first. Since the front gate was guarded, the back gate should be our choice but¡­ "I don''t know. Something feels fishy about this. First they wake us up at midnight and then that strange quest getspleted as soon as we get it. And then we were asked to get back into our room with no questions asked," I spoke out, summarizing the entire thing that happened before. "And now they block our exit as well." Mark added as his eyes were focused on the empty garden beyond the gate. "I can break it but¡­ let''s get some more people first. I think doing it alone could be dangerous," Alice spoke as she stared at the system message before she turned around and began walking. Well. I had an idea of who she was talking about, but honestly I would rather work with this group than adding a bunch of girls that I am not familiar with. In fact, if there was someone that I really wanted to be in the group it would be that guy¡­ Adrian. ''He seemed much more reliable in my opinion,'' I thought before wondering what happened to that guy. Alice did mention briefly that he was in this tutorial but I never saw him. "Alice!" And a shout came from the left wall as we paused and turned to look at. At first, we were surprised to see the person standing at a distance. It was Luke, the guy who tried to take control over the entire tutorial. And then I saw Alice continue walking as she ignored that guy. Since I knew the entire story, I too ignored him before beginning to walk but¡­ Mark took out his bow before loading it in Luke''s direction. It surprised me. Did Mark hate Luke that much? Though his next words put us on guard as he spoke, "There is something chasing behind Luke." We observed the area closely as Luke kept running towards us. His eyes were filled with fear, and his body which seemed normal from a distance, on a closer look, was far from being in proper shape. Luke was bleeding from his eyes and a part of arm was burnt somehow. And the worst of it? His shadow was missing right now. Chapter 71: [The ‘Tutorial’] [Mark''s POV!] ''Something is there.'' I couldn''t help but feel that way, as I observed the long hallway from where Luke wasing from. He ran frantically with tears and terror on his face, his arms scarred and a desperate attempt of escape from whatever was following him. I charged my bow with a bit of mana, and then pulled it extra hard for some speed. Since my arrow could hit anything I wanted to without missing the shot, I aimed at the ''invisible'' being following Luke. -Shot! The arrow left at an insane speed crossing Luke by a hair''s length away before it reached the empty area behind him. And then¡­ -SCREEEETCH!!!! A loud scream came from just behind Luke as a monster in the shape of a bat appeared. He was badly wounded by the arrow that I hit it with, as it wriggled and struggled on the ground. -st! And Alice aimed at that bat with her improved fireball, sting it into pieces as it screamed even more before dyingpletely. "What happened?" Alex asked as he caught Luke, before he checked his body. Observing carefully, his eyes which were previously red, were now returning to normal now. Alex looked at Luke''s shadow with a narrowed gaze before turning back to Luke and asking again, "You okay buddy? Never knew you had fans in this ce." Luke slowly stood up, as he took a deep breath. His eyes were still shaking as he turned to Alex and spoke,"it''s¡­ not that. There is something worse¡­ down there." Our eyes turned even more serious as we looked at each other before Alice asked,"Something worse?" "They are¡­ blergh¡­ blergh¡­" Luke vomited out blood as Alex helped him keep his stance, before he continued,"¡­ they are using female vampires for¡­ pleasure there¡­ and the kids too." A horror ensued as we widened our eyes before looking in the direction where Luke came from. ¡­ [Avida''s POV!] "Everything is locked. All the gates, windows, everything. The barrier prevents anyone from exiting the castle," I finished my report on what I found on my investigation. The look on everyone''s faces was serious as Boss then told us what she saw. "Damn! So it''s a horror themed tutorial? I totally wanted an adventure fantasy setting," Leviined as he seemed really upset with this. He then looked at Boss before speaking, "I tried talking with the guards but they didn''t tell me anything. Just mundane things like how this city is thest human city and bull crap. I wanted to press a bit more, but before I could do so, that saintess called us out and we had to go." "So a dead end, huh? What should we do now?" Invar asked as he seemed to be enjoying this situation as well. Oh well¡­ he would be fine anywhere as long as that ce isn''t too monotonous. "We will continue our investigation within the castle. There should be something that would help us understand theplete situation of the castle and the stories behind it," Boss spoke as we all nodded. I wanted to take a break for god''s sake but it seems like we won''t be getting any sleep tonight. Oh well. Survival takes priority over everything. "But before that. Since you are here, you probably have found something," Boss spoke as she then turned around, towards the direction of the balcony. And though I was confused for a few seconds, I saw that bastard''s face again, before a sudden mixed feeling appeared in my mind. "Adrian!" Levi spoke as he looked at that guy dressed in ck, while Invar just kept smiling. "Sharp as ever as Boss," he spoke as he removed his mask and then stretched before speaking,"I came here because I thought I could use some man power. How would you guys like to bring this entire castle into shambles?" A devil-like smile was present on his face. ¡­ [Julia''s POV!] "Let''s go," Samantha spoke as we all got ready to escape this ce. What happened tonight somehow made us all feel uneasy about the entire situation. It wasn''t just what happened with the prince and all, but what Emily told us after we entered our room. That prince''s titles showed [Mass Murderer] and [Heretic!]. Along with his ss being [Devourer!]. We could honestly be entirely wrong about the situation, but it would be better to stay outside the castle and handle the situation than stay inside here. We girls took our things and began moving in the direction to the main gate of the castle. There were many guards on our way that looked at us for a few seconds before continuing to do their own work. Ignoring them, we moved faster and reached the main gate. Though¡­ [The gate is blocked by a Holy Energy Barrier! You do not have the key to exit the gate barrier!] Our eyes narrowed at that barrier. As I was wondering what we should do now, Samantha charged her spear to full power before pointing at the barrier and¡­ -BOOOOM!!!!! There was smoke around the area where Samantha just hit the barrier, though as it got cleared¡­ there was not a single dent on it. I saw Samantha narrowing her eyes at that barrier before she closed her eyes as if thinking about the situation. I looked at the Guards outside, standing still without doing anything. It''s as if they had already predicted this to happen. They nonchntly stood there without making any movements, while we observed the surroundings outside the gate. "Oh my! Just what is going on here? Why are the heroes trying to break the God''s Barrier that protects us from those filthy beings of darkness?" And a feminine voice came from behind, as we all turned around, only to find two twin girls standing there with each having a scythe in their hand. They wore a simr attire like the saintess from before, except it wasn''t covering all of their bodies. Just their private parts a bit around them. To be fair, the only simrity with the saintess'' outfit was the matching colors. "Guys¡­ they are bad news¡­" and Emily warned as she prepared her weapon against the twins. While the rest of us slowly moved into formation. "This is fun. I don''t think the prince would mind if some of them are missing a leg or two, right?" The other twin spoke as sheughed at us with an evil smile. ¡­ [ir/ First Floor Administrator''s POV!] I sat on the couch opposite to that Half Giant, the Tutorial''s Administrator. He sipped some tea as he was quite rxed despite all the things that I have notified him about. The mana surge, the abnormalities that I found and a couple more things of importance. Though he didn''t seem to be taking any of that as a note of importance at all. "Miss ir. Firstly, thank you foring all the way here to exin all the things you found. I know it must have been hard to leave your own floor at the cost of usibility. Really thank you," he spoke as he put the cup down before continuing to speak, "But let me ask you this. Do you know what a tutorial is?" "A ce for growth of those who will reach the highest of the tower? A chance for the yers to change their fate before they enter the tower?" I spoke as I looked at him. The value of the tutorial was immense for both the yers and the natives of the tower. There was much more to it, but with respect to the tower, this was the most important. "Well. You aren''t wrong about the reason tutorial exists. But that''s not what I asked. I asked you what exactly is a ''Tutorial''? I am talking about the worlds that the [yers] visit? Their natives, their stories¡­ what do you think about that?" He asked again as he looked through the window, at the empty ins and the blue skies. It was beautiful scenery. But my mind was fixated on the question he asked. Let''s see. The tutorial''s world, huh? Each time a tutorial took ce, a new world was involved. A new. A new story. I have often heard from yers how they saved the vigers, humans, lizardmens, etc. Some save dragons while others kill them. It was ever changing. "The Tutorial is another world where the yers are summoned?" I asked as I looked at him and he smiled as he spoke, "Maybe? It''s not a wrong answer but that''s not all there is to a Tutorial." He then continued with a solemn look on his face, "The best answer I can give you is, a dying world." My eyes widened. "You see, the first 3 tutorials, the dying world is the [yers] own world. They survive and grow there. We, or the tower, don''t kill the world to be fair. Their world has always been destined to die one way or another. Natural disasters? Alien Invasion? Dimensional Invasion? It could happen anyway. The tower simply gives a second chance to those who deserve it." He stood up and then began walking towards the balcony as he continued, "The reason [yers] can earn points in those worlds is because they are the natives of their world. And for each time they prevent an invasion or kill a monster, the power bes the yer''s own, in the form of points. And honestly, only their native world would favor their [yers] with an extraordinary amount of points." He sighed as he smiled,"that is why, when yers kill monsters in the tower, they gain much less than what they earned before. Because, more than half of it is taken by the tower itself to sustain its stability." My eyes widened as this was the first time I was hearing of it. I wanted to ask a dozen of questions but the first one that came into my mind was, "Then what about the 4th, 5th and 6th tutorial? What about the skill cards?" "The world of the second phase tutorial is usually a dying world at war. It''s a ce where the yers are summoned as a sacrificial pawn to be used for the gain of the natives of that world. Though generally, in the end everything ends and the [yers!]e back to life here. In a way, it always follows the 7thw of causality, you know?" 7th Law? When you want to gain something from somewhere, you must provide something of equivalent value in exchange? "When the summoner is tasked to call the [yers] from the safe zone in the [Tutorial!], it usually goes something along the lines of, ''I want strong beings toe protect our world.'' Though a dying a world generally doesn''t have enough power to call on strong beings," he sighed as he then added, "In the end, they could only call mere weak beings who have just entered the tower. So aspensation, the tower makes the wish fair. He takes powers from that world and gives it to the [yers], in a form that the natives can''t obtain. And that is through the cards." So, if strong people were really called with enough power, doesn''t that mean the yers won''t gain anything from that native world? As if understanding what I was thinking, the adminughed before speaking,"that is true as well. In fact, there were many cases where the people from the higher floors were forcefully called to another world. Do you know what happened to such worlds?" I gulped as he looked at me and answered, "Whenever the world called a being they couldn''t handle, 10 out of 9 worlds ended up dying way before their fixed time and the yers returned to the tower. As for the rest, the yers became the rulers or kings of that world." "But¡­ What does it have to do with the increased mana in that world? And those abnormalities and such?"I asked as I looked at him, to which he pondered before speaking, "In my entire 1451 years of life, I have never once seen the Tower making a mistake. Then my guess is¡­ since the next tutorial is being held in such a messed up world, there is a high chance, there is a yer or a batch of yers among those taking the tutorial that could potentially handle that mess." "So miss ir, don''t worry too much about it. Because the tower knows how to handle the problems uring to it. It''s very much alive, you see?" Chapter 72: [Before the Fight!] [Location: Near the Back Gate of the Castle!] The group of Mark, Alice and Alex moved towards the room where Luke had seen the vampire ves. Although he was pretty much wounded, Luke followed behind them as well. His reasons included that those bats were somehow able to bring up horrifying memories from his deepest fears, and if that could be solved, he could easily fight alongside the others as well. One step at a time, they slowly moved towards the room while keeping their surroundings in check. Mark, being the one who can somehow sense those monsters, was on the front, while Alice and Alex were on the rear in case something appeared from behind. Took a few minutes, but the group reached the room at the corner where Luke saw what he saw. "What were you even doing here?" Alex asked, a bit confused, to which Luke shook his head in dejection and spoke,"I was trying to find the bathroom." "Here?" Alex was even more confused to which Luke just pressed his lips before nodding. -Creak! Alice slowly opened the door for Mark, while Mark kept his bow ready. Though an ominous feeling suddenly rose in everyone''s hearts, as they felt the dirty auraing out of the room. "[Blessing of the Ice!]" Alice chanted silently, as she helped the rest of the members, improving their mental state, before they all calmed down. It wasn''t a skill but a form of power that she learned during her time in the Ice Pce. It was one of the two things she learned at that time given the little time she had. Though the concentration and mana required is 3 times more than what a skill would have. And honestly, she can''t chant it continuously either or else she would just faint from the mental exhaustion it puts her into. -Shot! Mark shot the arrow as soon as he found the presence of a monster, before he prepared 5 more arrows. His eyes narrowed in the room, through the small open gap created by opening the door. -Shot! Shot! Shot! Shot! Shot! Five more shots at once, Mark killed a bunch of monsters, before he looked at Alice and nodded. She then slowly opened up the entire door and the foul stench of blood spread all around them. Even though they were under the effect of Alice''s spell, they were still feeling uneasy with the stench, the aura and even the whole atmosphere of the room in front of them. "What are you guys doing?" A voice came from behind the group. "Fuck!" Alex shouted as he reflexively used his fist to attack the person behind them. -Bam! Though that fist blocked easily by the kid standing behind them. A blue eyed, brown haired kid, wearing a casual t-shirt over his shorts, He stood there as he looked at the group with an excited smile. It didn''t seem like he was a native of this world, so most probably another yer? "Who are you?" Alice asked with a narrowed look before he answered with a really excited smile,"my name is Percy Milton. Can I join you all? You guys seem really fun!" ¡­ [Location: At the Front Gate of the Castle!] "They are a type of vampires. Or more like beings who have obtained the power of vampires. Their power levels are roughly base C-Grade each, the left one is strength type while the right one is mana type," Emily counted all the things she saw about those twins in front of her. Though the twins were surprised, there wasn''t really a change in their expression as they didn''t believe that these kids could do anything to them. That was until Emily continued again, "As long as any fire, electricity or holy type of energy is used, they would receive 3 to 5 times more damage. Also, if you have any wood or silver elemental weapon, that would be highly effective against them." Narrowing their eyes at Emily, the twins observed her with a slight re in their eyes. It was a different thing to find the information about the enemies but to take a look and find their weakness right on the spot¡­ that was way too dangerous for them. ''We must capture her,'' the twins decided at that spot as they began walking towards Emily. -Shot! A fire filled arrow was shot in the twin''s direction, right in the middle of them, while they jumped at the sides, avoiding that arrow. -BOOOM!!! The arrow created an explosion somewhat damaging the twins, and they were now pretty much ring at the girls. "The guards areing," Julia spoke as she looked at the guards finally taking action, as they were surrounding the girls. Samantha was pretty much focused on the twins as she simplymanded Julia, "Neutralize them. They are barely D-Grade." Nodding, Julia simply waved at the guards with a smile before pointing her finger at them," you shouldn''t threaten young girls, you know? It''s not something gentlemen do." "Do we look like gentlemen to you?" The guard spoke with a sudden evil smile appearing on his face though¡­ -Thud! He then fell on the ground, paralyzed, unable to speak a single word. He was trying his best to move but the paralysis poison was too strong for him. "Well. You certainly don''t," Julia said before she pointed her finger at the other guards before speaking,"sweet dreams," and shooting another poison needle from her gloves. "Your gloves always makes me jealous," Olivia spoke as she then moved towards re and Samantha, before touching them and using one of her skills she got from her [Gift: Gravity Maniption!]. She reduced the weight of Samantha and re to a certain extent, allowing them to increase their speed much more than they could normally show. Olivia then applied gravity magic on the greatsword that she took out from her inventory, and easily picked it up before moving in front of Emily as thest line of defense. As for Mira, she was the healer and buffer of the group. She chanted a couple of skills at re and Samantha, increasing their attack power at least by 50%. Given that re was a Fire elemental user that excelled in hand to handbat, and the spear that Samantha was using was a wood type, the difficulty of fight was reduced by at least 60%. "All right girls. This is our first official fight after the training. Let''s do our best!" Olivia spoke as she increased the morale of the group, while the twins who had somewhat recovered from the previous st, were now running towards the group of girls. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] ''It seems some of them have already started fighting. Well it would be a good battle experience for them,'' I thought as I stood there on the balcony observing the empty forest ahead of me. I had already exined the gist of the situation to the group, and they too were moving towards their designated locations. With this, I should be able to conquer the front gate, the back gate, the underground ve area and the Saintess. All that''s left is the Prince who was currently sleeping in his room. "What should I do after I conquer this kingdom? The yers won''t be enough to rule it, and if what I am thinking is correct then I can''t stay here for long after the entire mess is cleared," I sighed as I stretched a little. The first problem can be solved if the Vampire Prince''s mental state is somewhat stable. Though thetter¡­ it was making me wonder just how big the range of this tutorial was? It was just an idea really. But given how 50 of the 500 students survived in the first phase of the tutorial, one can assume at least 500 million yers are there from our world that made it to the next tutorial. And given that all the 500 million yers were sent in this world, there was a high chance that other yers were teleported to an area much different from here, but in the same world. ''On the chance that those yers are in this world, what if they appeared in a ce where the vampires rule the city? Or perhaps in a ce where the humans were, like that other? What are the chances of us fighting against other yerster if the war starts?'' Once again my mind began thinking, or perhaps overthinking in this case. -p! I then pped myself tightly, before taking a deep breath. Clearing my mind, I once again focused on the task at hand. Let''s deal with what we can before worrying about things that didn''t even happen. Putting on my mask, I then erased my presence. And then moving towards the underground direction, I searched for a peculiar person on the [Map!] that I needed if I wanted to make ns much smoother. There were many things that I saw in the underground that made me sigh. But given I had already sent someone to deal with the situation there, I think Invar would be more appropriate to punish them than I was. After all, he really loved children a lot. I could only wonder what would happen to those bastards once Invar sees the condition that they had put the children in. ''Found you,'' I smiled as I found the guy on the map that I was looking for, before I observed the condition he was in. A sigh escaped my mouth before I began moving towards him, much faster than before. A re once again was boiling in my mind as I questioned¡­ ''Why do humans always tend to fall so low?'' Chapter 73: [Fight!] [Location: Near the front gate of the Castle!] -Whoosh! Samantha moved towards one of the twins with physical strength, while re went head to head against the one which excelled in using mana. On Samantha''s side, she first parried the scythe with her spear before moving in for a thrust. Though, that twin rotated her scythe around her body as she took a few steps back, dodging Samantha''s attack. -Pierce! Samantha''s attack barely reached that twin, cutting a part of her dress near the stomach before that twin stepped back a few more steps. As soon as Samantha''s spear reached its maximum range, she began retracing her spear. Using that brief window of time, that twin dashed towards her covering half the distance in a single step. -Dash! -Shot! Though Tisha shot a fire arrow aimed at that twin''s heart, which she barely dodged by twisting her body to the side. Her aim became a bit off, while Samantha took a step back, readjusting her spear''s aim. -sh! Even though a bit off, that twin attacked Samantha with her scythe. -nk! Which was then blocked by Olivia and her greatsword. Although it was rather weak, it protected both Samantha and Olivia. -Shing! Finding the perfect moment, Julia attacked with her poison needles at that twin. Although half of them failed to reach her, the other half were on the spot, poisoning that twin. The twin felt her body weakening, as she red at Julia before her eyes turned red. Her veins started to take shape on her white face, as she looked at those around her. "Berserk!" Emily shouted alerting those around them. It was a code word that meant the opponent had used a special sacrificial move to increase their power. While it did directly trante to being Berserk, anything that had a simr function which made the opponent stronger could also mean the same by that code word. -Whoosh! And then Samantha too used a couple of her skills, going on aplete one on one against that twin. -sh x 12 -sh x 17 -sh x 14 A fast paced battle began between the two while the other girls looked at their exchange. Other than Julia who could somewhat interfere between them with her poisons, the other girls now shifted her focus to re who was constantly running around the other twin that excelled in mana control. The other twin was trying to attack re with blood red mana balls that were floating behind her. Using her fast speed, re dodged each and every one of them. Even though they couldn''t push re away, they didn''t let re close the gap between them. -Shot! And since Tisha was free, she now aimed at the mana controlling twin, which was blocked by a shield of blood created by the twin. Not giving a break, the twin created blood spikes which she aimed at Tisha. Before Tisha could even move, those spikes were thrown at her. However, Olivia once again appeared in between blocking those spikes with her greatsword. [Heal!] Mira immediately healed Olivia, who was somewhat injured now. This brief window of distraction allowed re to run towards that twin at a rapid speed, covering the entire distance within a moment. rmed that twin created another shield. -BOOOM! However it was broken into pieces before re reached that Twin and punched as hard as possible squashing her entire skull before throwing that twin away. Though there was no message, so that meant that the twin was still alive. "Luna!" The twin who was fighting using her physical strength shouted as she looked at her twin, Luna, getting thrown away. "You bastards!" Shouted the scythe twin as she looked at re with pure hatred. She was about to move in that direction until Samantha''s spear appeared, piercing her stomach and cutting her into two parts. -Boom!!! Before she got thrown away as well. The girls then slowly recollected themselves as Mira began healing everyone who was injured. ¡­ [Location: In the deepest parts of the castle!] [Adrian''s POV!] Moving from one trap door to another, I was able to reach the underground prison where that guy had been trapped. Since there was only a single prison in that dark area, it wasn''t that hard to locate him. Though observing him from a close distance, he wasn''t exactly how I had expected him to be. Or perhaps I failed to see this condition properly through the map. "Are you the Vampire Prince?" I asked as I looked at the boned kid with barely any muscle mass in his body. He looked like he would crack if I even touched him. "Is he even alive?" I questioned as I observed his condition. And much to my delight, he slowly moved his head as he looked at me before slowly trying to ask something. "Bl..d.." he mumbled as I narrowed my eyes at him then thinking about a couple of things I typed something in the [Game Master System!] [Mana Blood Packet! Grade: E Quality: B Quantity: 1000 ml! Effect: Provides Nourishment to all Blood Sucking Organisms! Note: Lethal to any Hemophobic being!] [Would you like to create the item for 500 GM points?] I clicked [Yes], before bringing that packet close to his mouth and slowly letting him drink from that packet. Times like these are when I feel like the [Game Master System] is really an omnipotent system. I could create anything as long as I have points. Not including those insane skills and gifts, as long as it''s justmon items and luxuries, I could have them all just with a click of fingers Each of them, no matter howvish in my old world, would barely cost more than 1000 GM points. ''May be I can retire already?'' I wondered before focusing back on the prince. I saw that guy slowly drinking the blood taking one gulp at a time. At first there was no change in his body but soon as I gave him 2 more bottles, I saw some minor changes. The faded light in his eyes was a bit brighter now. ''Seems like I would need a dozen or two of those packets. Since I am gonna ve drive him to take control of the kingdom, I think it''s fine to think of it as an investment,'' I sighed as I gave him more and more blood packets. His body slowly gained vitality as I created about a dozen more blood packets, and kept feeding him. His body grew from being rag and bones, to a malnourished child with about 15 packets. Then feeding him 5 more, I was able to make him barely normal. He licked even thest drop of blood as if he would never get it all again. His eyes then looked at me with mixed emotion as he asked, "Who are you? And what do you want from me?" ''So his sanity is still intact, huh?'' I thought before smiling as it was a really good thing. This way I won''t have to find anyone else to rule the city. "My name is Crowley, short for Crow. And I am here from another world, with a quest to save you and the other vampires. My friends are currently defeating the rest of the humans as we are talking," I tried briefing him of the situation first. Perhaps this would calm him and he could talk about more pressing situations then. Though he widened as he spoke, "you said they are currently fighting?" I nodded but his eyes seemed to have lost the hope je had before. He simply spoke, "Let me guess. You haven''t figured out a way to get out of the castle either? Haha¡­ and I really thought there was finally hope." I was confused by his words but his next sentence made it all clear. "They are immortals. Within the confinement of these castle walls, there is a spell that brings them back to life at their peak health as many times as they die." ¡­ [Location: Near Front Gate of the Castle!] The twins began shaking as their body started floating in the air. The two halves of the scythe twin joined back, and the squashed head of the other began healing at an insane speed. Within seconds, all the damaged parts were healed, fixing them back to their original shape. The girls looked at the twins with a serious gaze as they prepared for another round of fight. With Samantha and re once again taking the lead role. ¡­ [Location: Near the Back Gate of the Castle!] "Why are theying back to life? Is there no end to this?" Luke groaned as he killed those bastard men for the 7th time, while Alice and Mark covered him. As for Alex, he was currently moving those weakened Vampired outside the room, while Percy prevented any attacks from reaching there. Theirbination was good as they could somewhat handle the situation without needing to go all out. "Let''s take the prisoners out before locking these monsters in the room. We can figure out everything elseter," Alex suggested his n to which everyone nodded while they slowly moved all those prisoners outside. Once all the vampire prisoners were outside, they killed these human monsters for the 11th time and locked the room from outside. The group barely rxed until a finedy appeared, blocking their path. Their eyes narrowed at her, as all of them gulped at the evil grin she was showing them. "What do we have here? Seems like the naughty children need some discipline," the Saintess Amia spoke as her eyes turned red, while her grin widened ever more than before. Chapter 74: [Event!] [Adrian''s POV!] "They are immortals. Within the confinement of these castle walls, there is a spell that brings them back to life at their peak health as many times as they die." I looked at him with my eyes widened for a moment before a sigh escaped my mouth. I guess, it wasn''t going to be as easy as I thought. Though, it doesn''t really matter to be honest. "It''s okay," I answered as I looked at the [Map!], once again checking the powers of those present on the map. And given what I had nned and what I could see through [elerated Analysis], I could only pity those immortal beings for what they were about to go through. "??" Though the prince seemed to be confused by my calm attitude. I smiled at him and continued speaking, "There is a lot I want to discuss with you, but first there are a couple of questions that are bugging me. Will it be all right, if I ask you that?" ¡­ [Location: Near the Back gate of the castle!] Saintess Amia appeared in front of the kids, blocking their exit as they braced themselves for another fight. Looking at how they were protecting the vampire behind them, the Saintess had already guessed that they had seen everything. Hence, ording to her, there was no reason to pretend anything anymore. It was supposed to happen in the morning where the n was near perfect since the sun would be up in the sky. But given the strength these kids had, there was no problem even if it began a bit early. "Haha! I knew it would be fun to stick with you guys! First I get to fight with those strange humans and now even the strong Saintess!!" The brown haired kid, Percy Milton, spoke as a wide grin formed on his face. He seemed strangely happy that he was getting a chance to fight strong opponents. -Swish! Before anyone could even realize, Percy was already behind Amia, ready to punch her as hard as possible. And before she could even turn back, Percy attacked Amia with all his might. Though rather than producing a loud sound, Percy''s hand was blocked against the thick skin of Amia. Even though she was a bit surprised, she didn''t feel threatened at all. In fact, she simply turned around and moved her hand to catch Percy. -Swish! Before he returned back to his original position, much more excited than before. "Her defense is strong," Alex spoke but Alice shook her head as she corrected him,"it''s not her defense. It''s regeneration. At least from the traces of mana around her, she is using a very high level regeneration." The group was surprised to hear that as they looked at Amia with a narrowed look. Even though none of them was underestimating her before, this new information made them realize that currently they might be fighting a monster in human form. "Yeah. When I attacked her, I felt the impact of her skin breaking. I even saw some of her flesh being burnt and torn off, but before I could push it even furthur, all that healed within a fraction of second," Percy spoke about what he observed. His eyes seemed to be fixated on Amia, while his body began giving out slight sparks of electricity. "Are you still going to keep trying?" Amia asked a bit unamused with their reaction. ording to her estimate, they should have understood by now that no matter what they do, they could never harm her. She then sighed before speaking, "Oh well. I was getting bored so I might as well y a little." Then she began walking towards the group one step at a time. Her red eyes, looking at the children one at a time, as if wondering which one should she begin with. Unlike Percy, who was ready to fight with a near immortal being, Alice and the group were more concerned with escape. They knew that fighting against such an enemy would be a waste of time and energy. Even if they win, there is no guarantee that there won''t be another enemy of the same caliber. However all thoughts went to trash as soon as a System Message resounded within the castle, in each and every yer''s system. [Event Quest!] [Quest: Infinite Skill Points Event! Difficulty: Easy ~ Insane Description: The Game Master has found some aberrations in the confinements of the castle with regards to the Tutorial 5. And hence he has given an opportunity for the yers to earn as many skill points as they could from this particr situation! Objective: Kill the immortal beings marked on the map provided to you, as many times as possible! Time limit: 2 Hours! Rewards: Skill points based on the difficulty of the opponent!] "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" Luke, Alice, Mark and Alex looked at the notification, with their eyes wide open. And the previous thought of running away went to trash when they saw the skill point reward marked on the Saintess''s head. [1000 Skill Points!] The fact that they could do this quest multiple times¡­ doesn''t that mean there is a chance one can even increase their lowest skill to A-Grade? As for the saintess, who was looking at the children with greed, finally spoke as she pointed at Luke,"I chose you young boy. You will be the one-" "With Pleasure!!!" And Luke dashed with excitement as he looked at the Saintess with pure greed in his eyes, far more than what the saintess had. It wasn''t just him, but even Alex and Mark were now getting excited as they prepared for the battle. It was then the Saintess realized that¡­ something was wrong¡­ very wrong with the situation. ¡­ [Location: Near the Main Gate of the Castle!] The battle between the twins and the group of girls was intense, as the girls were struggling to keep up with the never ending fight. The twins were enjoying the misery that the girls were going through, but something changed a few minutes ago. The horror which the girls carried, now changed with pure excitement and greed as those girls started attacking the twins with their most lethal moves. If previously there was terror in their eyes each time the twins came back from the dead, now as if waiting for them to get alive again, those girls were getting excited by the same process. Heck they were even taking turns to get thest kill on the twins. Looking at the madness in the girl''s eyes, the twins finally started to get worried. Their eyes questioned if they were even the same girls as before. But all they could do is keep on fighting, hoping that the girls would tire themselves out sooner orter. Though unbeknownst to them, the girls were only looking at the number above their head right now. [100 Skill points!] [100 Skill Points!] ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] A constant smile was present on my face as I looked at the chaos urring all over the castle as the yers rushed to kill all the enemies that I have marked. This should be fine to hold the enemies at line for the next two hours. ''The quest did cost a bit. But at least, I don''t have to give everything from my pocket, and hopefully I could make all that back,'' I sighed as I looked at the reward ratio that I had right now. [Quest Creation Panel!] [The Game Master Can manually create any type of quest, but the rewards and the difficulty should match the situation. The in-depth lore of the situation should also match with the quest creation! Current Authority Level: 4 The Following benefits would be given to the Game Master: -Reward Ratio - 1:10 -Max Quest Duration: 2 Hours -Max Quest Difficulty: Insane -Max Penalty: None -Once Every Tutorial, the Game Master can create three Quests of his choice! Return Rewards: -40% of the rewards earned by the participants would be returned to the Game Master himself! Note: The Game Master Cannot participate in the quest himself!] Earlier, I couldn''t even create a single quest in the [Tutorial!], but it seems that has been removed with the new authority that I had. Plus the Return rewards added with the reward ratio meant that I could gain 100% of what I invest as long as yers kill 30,000 enemies. It would have been certainly impossible before, but with the immortal enemies in the underground, and having yers like Boss, Alice, Invar, etc. It doesn''t seem impossible any more. Hence I put down all my 30k skill points into the quest as a reward, which should be converted into 300,000 skills points as a total. I doubt that thebined score of all yers would reach this much by the end of two hours, so for now I can just focus on my own thing. "What is going on in the castle?" The prince spoke as he could somehow sense what was going on in the castle above, to which I simply spoke," it''s nothing. Let''s get back to our conversation. Tell me in detail about how those humans appeared from a strange portal and began attacking you out of nowhere." ¡­ [Location: Basement on the east side of the castle!] [Invar''s POV!] I walked down the stairs, as I looked at the gate in front of me. ording to Adrian, this should be the gate where I would find the vampire kids. Adrian didn''t tell me in detail saying that it would be better if I were to find and see everything on my own. Though given the re in his eyes, it seemed he wanted me to see this. ''He knows that I am weak against children¡­ just how horrifying is the sight that he sent me rather thaning himself to punish them?'' I was worried. And a bit scared of what I might see there. "Well. Might as well go through it," I sighed as I then shed down the gate in front of me, breaking it into pieces before the pieces fell on the ground. And what I saw in front of me was a dozen vampire children beating each other in a ring while about 50 or so adults cheered for the fight that was going on, cursing those children and shouting at them as if they were animals. "If you don''t want to get dragged all night! Then punch him harder!" One of those men wearing golden armor spoke as he looked angrily at the kid getting beaten. I could see the three vampiredies in his arms, as they looked at the guy with fear in their eyes. And I took a deep breath¡­ Before unsheathing two of the three swords that I had. Chapter 75: [How it happened!] [Adrian''s POV!] While others were busy doing their own things, I talked with the prince about a couple of questions that would solidify the direction of my ns. And much to my delight, the prince solved more than 70% of my queries as he answered everything honestly. Though for the most part it was him getting a bottle of [Mana Blood], in exchange for each honest answer he gave me. The story was pretty simple. The vampire''s power increases to at least 10 times at night inparison to the day. It''s not that they can''t travel during the day, or the sunlight would kill them, as the usual myth goes, but more around the fact that the sun weakens their blood regeneration, putting a huge limit on their physical power. If at night, they could regenerate even severed limbs, in the morning even a single scratch would take hours to heal. The severity was this bad. Now, when the humans attacked the kingdom, they didn''t give any form of warnings to the vampires. They simply opened up a portal in the central city and began killing all the vampires they could find. The human''s nature waspletely opposite to what the vampire''s was. Their power increases ording to the sunlight they receive, and decreases in the absence of the sun. Under normal conditions, the power bnce should have been neutral given how each part had an advantage over the others during a portion of the day-night cycle. But the humans were far more cruel than the vampires could have anticipated. They took on the blood of the vampires and began experimenting on them, without any regard for morality or rules. What was considered taboo for vampires, was done on a daily basis by the humans. Those experiments resulted in two things. One was the decline in power of the vampires. Firstly, directly by the reduced man power due to the kidnapping and secondly, by the special holy drug that they developed after experimenting for months. That drug was like a poison to the vampires, which kept them weak even during the night. And it made the condition far worse for them in the battle. Even though the stronger vampires somehow resisted the drug, the situation was turning unfavorable day by day. The second result of the experiment was the growth of power of those humans using the vampire blood. It wasn''t as potent as a true vampire''s power, but it was able to give at least half of the strength to the humans that a vampire could possess. For some reason, even though the humans could conquer more than just the city, they didn''t. Instead they began creating a fortress, and in a way, a type of farm where they ved the vampires and took their blood for experimentation. "I do not know what happened after I was captured but that''s the gist of the situation," the 12 year old prince spoke as he gulped down another packet of blood. Hisplexion was now pretty much good, with his body bing much more healthy than he was when I found him. His white hair and red eyes were pretty iconic. And hisplexion and facial features were something that screamed ''I am a protagonist'' kind of aura. ''I should find my own pushover protagonist fast as well¡­ '' I thought as there were a lot of things pending in that area as well. I needed someone who can do all my work without making me involved¡­ I wonder when I will find someone like that? Looking back at the prince, I then thought of the [Hidden Quest!] that still wasn''tpleted. [Quest: The cry of the Fallen Prince! Difficulty: Insane! Description: The Kingdom of Reiga has been taken over by the humans. Even though they could have killed all the vampires, they decided to treat them as livestock, using their blood for their own purposes. One of the Vampires, the Fallen Prince Lincoln, a mere 12 years old boy, was thrown into the underground prison, bing a mere ything for the Saintess'' pleasures. He is barely able to keep his sanity, but given how he is tortured every night, he won''t be able to survive for long. Objective: Save the Fallen Prince from the clutches of the Saintess Time limit: 6 Days 23 Hours! Reward: [ Next Chain Quest - The Last Hope of Reiga!] ] And then focusing back on that guy, I asked," Prince Lincoln, are you all right? I mean after all those things that the Saintess did to you?" As soon as I mentioned that Saintess name, a deep rooted fear appeared on the face of the prince. Hisplexion worsened as if I had triggered some form of PTSD. I was wondering how could he be so calm despite all the things that have happened to him so far¡­ so this is how, huh? ''He has partial amnesia,'' I sighed as the prince started shaking vigorously before I touched his head. [Would you like to remove the memories of what the Saintess did to the Prince and cure his mental disorder?] [Checking for permission from the Target! Error! Target is unable to give permission based on his condition! Checking for the optimal path! Based on the Laws and Regtions of Section 75ABE4, you have given permission to treat the prince!] [The total cost is: 53,421 GM. Would you like to proceed with the cost?] ''Hmmm¡­ '' I looked at the message for a few seconds before pressing [Yes]. I needed the prince for my future ns. Especially if I wanted to end the tutorial with a perfect rating. The Prince then calmed down as he took a deep breath. His eyes were trying to focus but something was preventing him from doing so. He then observed me with a deep look as he asked, "What¡­ Did you do?" "Nothing really. Do you feel better now?" I asked him, to which he touched his chest. I let him take his moment, in which he kept quiet for a few minutes. And then he looked at me before speaking, "I feel odd. As if something is missing." I pondered for a few moments before deciding to tell the truth. It would be better if he knows it, or else those missing memories would be another reason for his insanity. Not something I would really like to have. I exined a bit about what the saintess had done to him, and how he reacted to my words. Given that he was turning pretty much useless, I told him that I decided to erase those memories along with all the trauma he had. I said that it was one of my skills, to which he was surprised. As I exined everything to him, he calmed down much more. He then smiled as he bowed politely before speaking, "Thank you. Given how I feel much better now, I believe you are telling the truth. Thank you for saving me. Though¡­ you never told me. Who exactly are you? You said you were an otherworlder and it was your quest to save me. Can you exin that in more detail?" "Sure. But let''s walk outside first. I need you to collect all the vampires for me, and give a bunch of orders. If we want to recapture the castle, we will be needing each and every person avable here," I said as I stood up before beginning to walk towards the upper floors of the basement. Since he has sincerely exined everything that I asked him, I thought it would be fine to give him all the answers as well. Hence, as we walked I began telling him a bunch of things about the tasks we received when we entered this world. ¡­ While Adrian was talking to the prince, everyone else was also busy doing their own thing. The yers were crazily hunting all the marked enemies in the castle, killing them over and over for points. Fights were uring in each and every corner of the castle, as the hunt kept on going. Some of the yers, like the girls group, used this opportunity to improve their coordination even further and tried to kill the twin vampires faster than before. Simrly, Alice''s group was also pretty much giving their all in trying to kill the saintess. Even though they haven''t seeded even once, they pretty much were giving a hard time to the saintess who could barely keep up with them. Finally, there were three yers whose task was much different from the rest of the yers. They were the old party members of Adrian. Levi, Avida and Boss, who were tasked by me for three particr things. One was to find out the secret treasure and steal as much as possible from there. It was Avida''s task, and Adrian had given her theplete manual to where all the treasures were. The second was to find out the main power supply of the base. That was also supposed to have the key to the barrier in the outer gate, and since the structure looked ratherplex, Levi was tasked to find out more about the entire thing located at the south west of the castle, in a special room. Lastly, the task to make sure the Prince doesn''t get out of his room. This was because the Prince was the strongest among all the people present in the castle. Adrian might be able to take him on, but that would waste a lot of time for him, hence this task was given to Boss. Though¡­ She failed. Chapter 76: [Movements of the Enemy!] [Location: ???] In a huge hall, the aftermath of a battle was clear. The walls of the hall were barely holding together, while the roof was gone. Blood was sttered all over the floor, as the body of the bat-like being had fallen on the ground, barely breathing, barely alive. "Who¡­ are you people?" That bat-like being slowly lost his transformation, as it returned back into the human form. His red eyes and white hair gave a peculiar look on his face. If one has seen the portraits of any of the royal castles around the world, they would have recognized him at once. He was the Sole King of Vampires. The Strongest Vampire to ever exist in this world. "We? Just think of us as the new boss of thepany. We are here to give you an early retirement from your duties." The voice belonged to a 23 year old young man standing about 10 meters away from the vampire. The man wore a white robe, covering most of his body except the neck and above. His hairs were blue, while he had a strange white star shaped symbol in his azure eyes. Wearing sses, he flipped the pages of the book he was holding until it reached a particr page. And then that man raised his hand towards the vampire before speaking, "[Skill Book Page 7: The Chronicles of a Necromancer: Spell 7: Command over the Enemy!]" A strange circle formed around the vampire king, before purple chains appeared from the ground, holding the vampire tightly. The vampire king struggled his best to move, but it was useless. The glowing purple chains covered his entire body before slowly pulling him into the circle. "Wait! Wait! WHO ARE YOU-" The Vampire king tried to scream but there was no change in expression of the people who captured him. A few seconds passed as the silence covered the entire area before a being appeared from the same circle. He was the same vampire king, but something was different about him. His eyes were hollow and lifeless, as he looked at the man standing in front of me. He walked closer to that man, before bowing down and speaking,"my lord! How may I assist you?" The blue haired guy simply smiled before speaking," pretend as if nothing happened here. Keep on doing whatever you were doing till now. Though before that,e here first." The vampire king moved forward towards that man, before he took out a purple knife and injected it into the vampire''s shoulder. "This is corrupted energy. ept its power and let it evolve you one step ahead," that man spoke as he saw the drastic changes in the vampire king. His eyes glowed purple, and there was a strange symbol appearing on the vampire king''s head. "Good. Now, keep on with you work," that man spoke as he then looked at the surroundings before sighing as he spoke, "I know you are here, 11. Did you finish the work?" He spoke as he looked at one of the bigger fallen rocks on the floor. A girl, the same one who was sitting on seat 11 at the circr table before, appeared from behind the rocks as she smiled mischievously. "Sigh. Looking at your expression, you must have finished with the task. Good, now let us depart to the Holy Knights Kingdom. The faster we take control over the two worlds, the faster we can start the next phase." "I guess so, but not all work is done. There was an additional task given to me by 4, so I must finish that first," Seat 11 spoke as she looked at the man before adding, "Your gift is really useful for situations like these, huh? Despite it being a nonbat one, you somehow ended up being seat 3. Though¡­ is that really all to it?" The same mischievous smile appeared on 11''s face as she looked at 3. Her eyes were trying to look through 3, but he simply changed the topic. "What do you mean by another task?" "It''s to find a certain yer. His name is Crowley. I have already guessed where he should be, but given he is at least a thousand kilometers away from here, I don''t think I would be able to get to him before sunrise," she spoke as she sighed. "Then go. I will handle the Holy Knight Kingdom people in the meanwhile. Just return after you have finished the work. Since it''s just one yer, it shouldn''t be a problem for you." "You sure about that? It might get tricky in the holy kingdom. They are pretty vicious, you know?" Seat 11 spoke with a mysterious smile before 3 nodded at her. He then turned a few pages before chanting, "[Skill Book: Page 23: The Trials of the Wind Maker: Spell 4: One with the Wind!]" The spell activated around 11 as she found her weight bing much lighter than before. She jumped a couple of times before speaking," thanks for the boost. I think I can reach that ce before sunrise now." He nodded before speaking," then let''s meet soon," as he vanished from there. The joyful face of 11, turned pretty serious as soon as 3 went away. She looked at the Vampire king and the surrounding area that had been destroyed with a keen look. ''He is a monster,'' she thought as she sighed before looking at the kingdom beyond the castle. All the vampires present there were now dead. "I guess, it would take some time to catch up to him," she sighed as she injected herself with another dose of corrupted energy before preparing for a run towards the ce where she found [Crowley!] was. Since she couldn''t find him out during the orthodox method, she used another method to find him. That is to check for the batch of yers who arrived at the same time as him. And using that as a reference, she was certain that Crowley was in the vampire city that was supposedly at the edge of this world. "All right. Let''s see what you are hiding Mr. Crowley," she then ran as fast as she could, moving to the direction where Adrian was. ¡­ [Location: In the south west area of the castle!] [Levi''s POV!] -Creak! Opening therge ass door, I slowly entered the room. Since I was going to be on my own here, I decided to be careful and not get in any fights. The more I could avoid it the better. Inside the room, there were many glowing machines with various buttons of sorts. I found about a dozen experimentation tubes, each containing different vampires. Some vampires were aged, while others were barely teens. I could see one where the kid seemed to be straight taken out of a pregnant woman. ''Disgusting,'' I thought as I moved around the corners of the room. I saw about 5 people inboratory clothes, working on an unconscious vampire woman. The woman''s arms and legs were connected with IV tubes that carries blood out of her body to various machines, while the guys were taking a portion of her flesh and using all forms of liquids to test it. Slowly moving behind one of the machines, I then tried using my gift on it. [Gift: Mana Coding! Grade: Upper Mortal Grade - 9 Effects: Allows the user to connect to any working machine and use mana to change its function! The user can provide input to the machine, making additionalmands to the function! -Unlocks: [Skill: Coding!] [Skill: Mana Engineering!] [Skill: Language Conversion!] [Skill: Binary Input!] [Skill: Mana Interference!] ] And connecting to the machine, I began using my skills as I tried understanding the structure of the entire thing that this machine controls. "Let''s see what stories you have to tell," I smiled as I mumbled, enjoying the task that was given to me. ¡­ [Location: In the Treasure Vault Room of the Castle!] [Avida''s POV!] "There you are!" A gleeful smile was present on my face as I carefully unlocked the room''s lock. Breaking it wasn''t hard, but the next part was. ording to Adrian, the room had a defense system that would activate as soon as I stepped inside the room. Taking a deep breath, I then focused on the surroundings before I activated one of my skills. [Thief''s Mindset!] And then dashing into the room as fast as I could. -Sling! Sling! Sling! The traps activated at the first step, but I easily avoided it with my flexible body. The next few traps were easy to dodge as well as I could easily see through them before they could evene at me. "All right. The first part is done," I crossed the trap-filled pathway, before looking at the 8 stone knight golems that were standing between me and the next door where all the treasures were kept. "Guess, I can''t avoid a fight after all," I sighed as I hoped there could be a way to ignore them. But since I don''t see any, I tightened my fist as I prepared for a fast battle. "Come. I have things to steal," I spoke as I looked at the knight who was the closest to me. ¡­ [Location: Outside the Prince''s Room!] [Evelin''s POV!] "Aren''t you cute, miss? Did you really think you could defeat me?" The prince spoke with a calm smile as he looked at me, while I observed him with a narrowed look. We were currently outside the room as he was cracking his knuckles, while I pressed my lips a bit. The quest failed before it could even start. The prince stepped out right before I could reach the room. ''What should I do now? Should I kill him? Or should I force him back into his room? Adrian said it would be better if the Prince doesn''t find out what is happening in the castle. So, would it be all right to kill him? I don''t know¡­'' Honestly. If Adrian wanted me to kill him, he would have asked me to. But if he didn''t say anything, then he must have a n for him. "Are you scared, miss?" The prince asked with a kind smile before speaking," don''t worry. I don''t harm girls." I sighed as I then decided," one arm and one leg should be enough," before I aimed my weapon at him. [Partial Mana Enchantment: Eyes!] -Whoosh! I saw him appearing right in front of me, his fist almost reaching my neck. [Blink!] I then used my teleportation to appear just above him, while my crossbow was aimed directly at the weakest point of his shoulder joint. -Shot! Shot! Shot! Shot! Shot! Five shots at once, they hit his shoulder, creating a small dent there as I gauged the power required to actually do some damage. [Blink!] That prince almost turned around and caught me, but using teleportation, I teleported 5 meters behind, before jumping a few more steps back. Taking a proper stance, I then observed him once again. "3 minutes," I calcted as I looked at his shoulders again, while he stood there in the same position where he was trying to catch me. He observed me with the same annoying smile as he asked, "3 minutes?" "I think 3 minutes should be enough," I spoke as I then activated my skill. [Camouge!] Chapter 77: [First Kill!] Location: In the West Wing of the Underground prison where Invar was!] [Invar''s POV!] I have seen people far worse than monsters. Even in my previous world I had dealt with scums who treated children like shit. They were the worst of the worse. But this takes the cake. Even though my world was bad, but to this level. Nope, I haven''t felt this disgusted in my entire life as much as I am feeling now. -sh! [+20 Skill Points!] I killed a few of those scums as my eyes looked at those poor children inside the ring. Their shaking eyes as they looked in my direction with fear. A sudden fury appeared in my mind as I red at those men around me and killed another dozen of them. Those fuckers¡­ I will give them a thousand deaths over. -sh! [+50 Skill Points!] Those system messages were strangely annoying. They were breaking my concentration as I tried shing these bastards. I saw them gaining their strength back up after dying, so rather than killing them, I then decided to cut only 2 of their arms. Along with 2 of their legs. It will still kill them. But their pain would be much more painful than simply by a fatal sh. -sh! A dozen fell. -sh! And a dozen more fell again. "He is only one man! Surround him! I can''t believe he won''t fall after taking hits over and over. Just keep going on," one those men who looked a tad bit stronger than others spoke as he observed my face with pure anger. -Whoosh! And then dashing towards him as I shed about 10 men in between, before I ced my sword just above his tongue. With a satisfied yet evil smile, I looked at the horror filled look appearing on his face before I put a fraction of my strength in this attack. -sh And then I cut his lower jaw off his face, before I threw it away. Blood gushed into various directions as I then slowly rxed before looking at the horrifying expression of everyone present there. "M-Monster!!!!" "Run!" I sighed at their words before I mumbled,"how filthy," and then looked at the bastard who was at the farthest. At first I thought I might need to use a bunch of my skills here but looking at how pathetic they were¡­ ''I didn''t need to get serious against these guys,'' I realized that they were far too weak. If I used any of my skills against them, they would die without being able to do anything at all. Not something I would like as that would be too merciful for them. It''s a good thing that they wereing back to life all over again. This way I can kill them a hundred different ways, making them feel the pain that they put those poor kids in. -Whoosh! -sh! And once again, dashing towards the man who was the farthest, I cut down everyone who was in between before my sword shed him into two pieces. Their misery¡­ has only begun. ¡­ [Location: South of the castle!] The fight between Amia and the group had reached near its climax. Even though the group was a little bit tired, their vigor was only increasing with each passing moment. Though other yers had also caught up to the south area as well. So they needed to kill her before some random yers appeared and took away their kill. "Whoa! That bitch has a total of 1000 skill points! Attack her!" One of the yers, who reached the south area of the castle, shouted with pure excitement in his eyes as he looked at Amia. Amia, who was already on edge against the madmen, observed the new yers with an rmed look. If they were anything like the current yers she was fighting, she might really end up dying. Even though she was an immortal in this ce, dying was something she still hasn''tpletelye to terms with. ''I must escape from here,'' she decided as she changed her stance from offense to defense before running towards the room from where Alice and the others hade from before. "She is trying to run away!" Alex shouted, panicked that she would run away bringing all their efforts to zero. They had worked so hard to corner her and if she runs away now, it will leave a bitter taste in their mouth. It doesn''t matter who gets the points, the main thing was that someone should get it. "Got you!" Percy, who was now basically covered in electricity around him, blocked Amia''s path before he moved for a punch. A bunch of holy shields appeared in between but they were all broken down into pieces until Percy''s fist was stopped against her skin. [Greater Scorch!] And Alice used her skill to damage the area where Percy was attacking. Even though Percy was somewhat caught in the explosion, he didn''t seem to mind as he was already prepared for another attack. However before anyone else couldunch their attack, an arrow came at the precise timing when Amia''s defense was the weakest. It was strong. Strong enough to pierce her skin, making her look dumbfounded at the guy who shot her. The arrow passed through her cheeks and then through her skull, as she dumbfoundedly looked at the direction where it came from. And the guy who shot her, Mark, smirked as he looked at the system message before focusing on the falling body of that Saintess. "No hard feelings, haha. I will let you guys have the next kill," he cheerfully spoke as all of them dejectedly sighed before nodding and preparing for another round. While the Saintess slowly regenerated only to find those kids looking at her again, more thrilled than before, more hungry than before. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] Moving around the underground, I took a look at how everyone was doing. As usual, everyone was having fun hunting. Avida, Invar and Levi were also at their respective locations. As for Boss, it seemed the prince was awake for some reason, but given Boss was there, I didn''t need to worry about him creating a problem for me, "Excuse me, Mr Crowley," the prince spoke as he looked at me with a question-filled expression," where are we going? Isn''t the surface on the other side?" I nodded at him before speaking," there is someone that I need to pick from here. You aren''t the only one whom I was going to save here, you know?" My words confused him as he wondered who else could be present in these parts of the prison. From what he had known, all the vampires were in the other wing of the underground prison, with him being the only vampire on this side. And he was correct. He was the only vampire here. Just that, it wasn''t a vampire that I was looking for. [Quest 6: The Dead Saintesses plea! Difficulty: Impossible! Description: The Saintesses used to summon the Heroes and before, were forced to kill themselves in exchange for power. It wasn''t their choice but their families and friends were threatened, and in exchange they had no choice but to sumb to the Cruel King. Objective: Find the wandering Ghosts of the Dead Saintesses and listen to their request! Reward: [Chain Quest: Angels'' Request!] ] It was one of the hidden quests that I needed to finish. Earlier, I wondered about how I should find those dead saintsesses. But then looking at the blinking girls on the map, I clicked on them to check about their information. And bingo. There were the ghosts of those girls, floating around as they talked with each other. And with that, it became pretty easy as breathing to locate them. Moving towards them, I reached the corner cell, where I found the bodies of those dead saintesses. And to my surprise, it wasn''t just two or three, but at least a dozen bodies present here. "What¡­ is this ce?" The vampire prince''s eyes opened up wide as he looked at the dead bodies of those saintesses. He was having a hard time believing what he was witnessing. "To their own kind¡­ just how filthy are they?" He mumbled as he pitied those saintesses. "I know you are here. Come out," I spoke as I looked at the ''empty'' air in front of me. The Prince, Lincoln, was confused as he observed me before narrowing his eyes at the prison. "Why should we?" A voice came from the prison, making me smile as I replied," I will help you out of this situation." "What do you want in return?" Another voice came, this time from a different person¡­ err¡­ ghost. "A bit helps with the situation that is going on up there. I need someone who understands that structure of the castle," I said even though it was a lie. While I did need their help, it was toplete the quest. As for the castle itself, I have it all mostly figured out. "How can we trust you?" The third voice asked, while I pondered for a few seconds before speaking," you don''t need to. I will just help you out a bit and then kill those bastards and bitches in front of you. Whether you want to help me out after that is up to you. It''s something that I was going to do anyway since ''that'' being has asked me to do it." Since, there is a limited amount of things I can tell them, I think I can mix in some lies here and there. "That being?" The first voice asked and I answered," yeah. The one I am contracted with, the [Game Master!]." Chapter 78: [Royal Guards!] Location: Main Headquarters of the Holy Knight Kingdom!] "Sir! We are finding rapid energy loss at the base in the Dark Dimension! It seems like our people are rapidly dying over and over dozens of times. If it continues, then we might really lose that base," a soldier working on a golden hologram spoke with a terrified look on his face. He wasn''t the only one as there were a dozen more people working on the same machine, as they tried to handle the situation from running out of control. "How long till we can manage the situation?" The captain of those soldiers asked as he tried to analyze the situation. He had golden hair with blue eyes, the type of people you would find in fantasy novels as protagonists. "About an hour at worst. We can stretch it to 3 hours if we force the prisoners," the soldier answered before waiting for the captain to speak. While the captain kept pondering for a few seconds as he thought of the next move he should take in this situation. ''It must have been those otherworlders. To think the people we call for sacrifices would be this crazy. Did we call someone too strong?'' He thought as his expression changed into a worried one. Though as crazy as the situation might be, he cannot give up on the project they were working on. "I will send the 7 Royal Guards. See if you can open a portal in the location that I am marking," the captain spoke, finallying to a decision as he looked at the soldiers. Though they were a bit shocked to hear that, they did notin even one bit. A message was sent to 7 Royal Guards who were trained for emergency purposes. They were created by supplying them with powers from over a 1000 people each. Even though they were made for purposes especially like this, it was the first time they were being called for it. Previously they were only used in situations like wars and such. "Isn''t this overkill sir? Those guards can take over B-Grade monsters on their own. Even one of them would be enough to end this situation. Sending 10 of them, and that too at a ce where they could never die. I apologize for being so blunt but I feel like 7 of them were unnecessary," one of the leading soldiers spoke, while the captain turned silent. He then turned to that soldier as he asked," what do we know about those otherworlders in that kingdom?" "Uh¡­ sir. That they are barely D-Grade with only a bunch of them reaching C-grade,"that soldier answered a bit confused to which the captain asked again," and do you believe that a bunch of D-Grade kids can take over a castle with never dying soldiers. Did you forget that there are already 4 C-Grade beings there along with a B-Grade monster that we kept stationed to monitor for emergencies." It was impossible for the yers to defeat them even once, let alone killing so many of them so many times. "Sir you don''t mean¡­" that soldier''s eye widened before the captain answered," there is an unknown variable. And we have no idea how strong it is. But taking the worst situation in consideration that the variable was able to turn the entire situation upside down¡­ it must at least be A-Grade." ''Hopefully, 7 never dying B-Grade soldiers would be enough to handle the situation. Or else¡­ we might even end up needing to start a war. We cannot afford to lose that kingdom by any means,'' the captain thought as he looked at the depleting energy source that was reviving the soldiers in the castle. ¡­ [Levi''s POV!] ''Bad news! Bad news! Bad News!'' I looked at the iing energy source as they were directed to the main hall. A portal was about to open in the castle, and to my guess, it was the enemy sending more reinforcements. ''What should I do?!'' rmed, I tried to find any solution possible to this situation. Canceling the portal activation is not possible since the process has already begun. The least I can do is redirect its course. "Should I send it to Adrian?" I mumbled under a low breath since he would know the best way to handle the situation. But then on a second thought, I recalled how Adrian told me that he could see everything that was going on in the castle with his [Gift!]. So it doesn''t matter where I send them, he should be able to assess the situation. Then the next best ce to send them was¡­ ''Sorry Invar. I will treat you to some dessert next time we meet,'' I apologized to him, before redirecting the opening of the portal to the underground, a few meters away from Invar. Depending upon the enemy, it could get a bit difficult, but I doubt it should be impossible for him. He is not as strong as Rebas, but that doesn''t mean he is weak. ¡­ [Invar''s POV!] I killed those bastards for the 50th time before looking at the children who had more or less escaped the area. I was able to talk to one of them while fighting while I asked them to move in a group and find other yers. Though it won''t help thempletely in this situation, at least this should give me enough freedom to unleash more of my destructive moves. This entire ce disgusts me, I am going to obliterate itpletely. -Zing! Though before I could proceed with my actions, I felt a sudden energy behind my back. Turning around, I saw a strange circle floating in the air before it started growing in size. I saw it slowly bing big enough for a bunch of humans to pass through. It was golden in color with the edges being reddish brown. And from the energy it was emitting, it seemed to be connected to another ce or something. "A Portal? We are saved from this madness!" "You bastard! Now it''s our turn to show you what it means to mess with us!" "Your time hase you old fucker!" Those filthy men were strangely energized as soon as the portal formed. Did they gain hope of some form? -Thud! Thud! Thud! The sounds of heavy footsteps resounded as a group of soldiers wearing golden armor appeared through that portal. Their eyes were shining golden, while a red coloured marking was etched all over their golden armor. "The Royal Guards! It''s the Royal Guards!" One of the men shouted with excitement, while others were bbergasted. They couldn''t believe their eyes. "I can''t believe I am looking at one! Oh! What a beautiful day to be alive!" Another one spoke as if he was witnessing an angel descend from heaven. The previous terror and horror they had on their face was gone, as they looked at those soldiers. ''They are strong. It''s going to be tough,'' I spoke as I then ced my hand on the third sword that I haven''t unsheated yet. It was the one that Adrian had brought for me, but given how strong it was, I haven''t used it even once. Though I sighed as I then removed my hand from it before looking at those men. ''Perhaps I should test my other abilities first,'' I thought as I then used my skill for the first time in a while. [Skill: Weapon Maker''s Knowledge: Limit Break!] And then I pointed my two swords at those 7 Royal Guards who were looking at me with pure hostility. "Come," I spoke as I took my fighting stance at them. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] "The Game Master?" The dead ghost of the saintesses asked as they looked intrigued. While I pondered before answering their question, "I don''t know much about the entire thing. But from what I have heard, they are beings with omnipotent powers and such. Anyways, I will first open the chains so that you guys can follow me. Will that be all right?" As I was opening the prison gate, I saw the white ghost of the three saintesses appearing in the prison. "G-G-G-GHOST!!!" That Prince, Lincoln, shouted in fear as he looked at those ghosts. Wasn''t he the vampire prince? Dude. You for real? Those saintesses looked at the Prince for a few seconds before turning back to me as they spoke,"all right. We will help you out. But in return please listen to our request." I opened the gate before looking at them as I nodded. "Our children and family have been captured and are held hostages within the castle. We do not know where they are, but we would be really thankful to you if you can find them," they spoke as I observed their faces for a few seconds before pondering and answering them, "All right. I will do what I can." I could find them using the [Map!], but it''s going to take some time to find them. I turned around as I then began walking back towards the surface. The Saintesses and the Prince kept staring at each other while they all followed behind me. As we walked there, they also asked a bunch of questions about who I was and what I was doing here, to which I merely spoke that I am an otherworlder and I am merely following my [Contract] orders. And as we were about to reach the surface, I then turned in the left path just before the door to the surface. Walking a few more steps, reaching the 4th prison to be precise, I looked at the guy inside the prison. Since we were dealing with two hidden quests already, what''s more, starting another one. [Quest 4: Redemption of the Cruel King! Difficulty: Insane! Description: The Last King of Humans was murdered by Aboth, the head Minister, because he was against the methods of the ministry regarding the ways of dealing with the Vampires. Even though he was in favor of conquest, he was against the methods of cruelty towards the Vampires. Though with the help of his trusted servants, he was able to escape death somehow. Unfortunately, he has now be a vampiric ve working under the city. Objective: Find the Cruel King and help him achieve his redemption! Reward: [Item: Ring of the Lone King!] ] I then reached a certain prison where a boney old man was chained to the wall. Even though he was pretty much malnourished, his white skin was still giving of a royal aura. Added with the golden hair he had, it wasn''t hard to guess he was one of the royalties here. "What''s he doing here?!" The prince was enraged. And even the saintess were shocked to see this sight in front of them. And hearing our voice, that man''s blue dull eyes slowly looked at me, before I asked, "Are you the former King of those Humans?" Chapter 79: [Before the Climax!] [Location: Underground West Area!] -sh! -sh! -Dash! -sh! [Skill: Weapon Maker''s Gamble: Dice!] -sh! X 24! Invar used another one of his skills as he cut down another Royal Guard, slicing him into pieces. Though the other 6 were already behind him, covering his escape as they tried to get a single fatal sh at his body. [Skill: Weapon Maker''s Creation: 360 degree Wind sh!] And then counter attacking them, he drew a circr sh all around him. A few of them who were agility based, dodged easily, while others who were defense based, blocked his attack before taking a step back. "Warrior. Who are you?" The one who was dead, came back to life as he moved in for a sh, but Invar easily dodged him with a sidestep, before cutting him in two vertical halves. Invar closed his eyes, as he then took a deep breath, getting a bit of his stamina back, before he turned around to find the other royal guards once again moving in for another fight. ''Seems like I would need to show a bit more than this if I need tost long,'' Invar thought as he calcted the time left for the event to end. This madness should hopefully end by that time. "The name is Invar. I am here to judge you filthy monsters who wear the skin of humans," he answered them, making them all smile as one of them spoke, "So you are one of those justice guys who believes that human lives are of equal value, huh? No wonder you were ring at us all the time. Good. It would be fun to break you." That man spoke as his eyes then slightly red, before a strange aura surrounded his body. Patterns began covering his body and weapon, as he pointed his sword towards Invar. -Whoosh! -ng! Reaching close to Invar, his de reached Invar''s neck, but it was parried at thest moment as Invar looked at him without much emotion in his eyes. "I guess I was wrong for even slightly hoping that you were different from those bastards from before," Invar spoke as he then gripped the two swords tightly before he activated one of the skills of the sword he was using. [Sword Skill: Blood Revitalize! Grade: D Effects: For all the attacks done as damage by the Blood sword, 20% will be stored as Blood Mana! Blood Mana can be used to either increase your own damage or to heal all your wounds, and bring your body back to peak conditions!] The others saw his body healing within an instant, making their eyes widen as they realized that they can''t take him lightly anymore. Otherwise, the fight would just keep going on indefinitely. Even though they were immortal, their powers weren''t unlimited. They need to finish this before it reaches the point where they can''t handle it anymore. Hence, they used their special skills as well, going berserk as they prepared for the next round against Invar, who was seemingly getting tired as the time was passing. ¡­ [Location: Near the South Gate of the Castle!] ''This is fucking too much. Fuck the ritual. I will fucking kill these bastards,'' Amia who was tired after getting killed a dozen times, was at the edge of her wits as she decided that she would now end this madness. "[Light of Life!] [Shadow Of Life]," her eyes turned red as a golden aura began floating around her. All those who were attacking took a step back, while the ranged one like Mark and other archers increased their attacks even more. Though the more they attacked, the more their attacks were being absorbed by the golden energy that seemed to be fighting the dark eerie energying from the saintess. "The heck?!" "Is it the second phase of the boss?" "Are the points going to increase? I really hope so!" "Shit! There are only 30 minutes left for the event to be over!" The yers were upset that her transformation might consume a lot of time. It wasn''t something they wanted right now when the time they had was so limited. "The energies are colliding," Alice said as she [Copied!] the two skills in her weapon. Her eyes tried understanding the mana collison that she was witnessing, though the way the Saintess body was breaking and making, it would be quite impossible for Alice. The only reason the saintess was able to do so was because she didn''t need to worry about dying in this situation. "[Mana Merge: Rhythmic Echoes!]" Amia shouted as those two energies started revolving around her at a rapid speed. Even though they were opposite nature, when rotated at fast speed, she could somehow amplify their effects and control them to some extent. "DODGE!" "DUCK!" "BE CAREFUL!!" Alice, Percy and Luke, who understood what was going to be followed, shouted loudly, while dodging the following des of light and darknessing in their direction. The attack took out half the yers out, while the others dodged hurriedly. If not for the sudden shout of the trio, barely a dozen would be able to survive that attack. "Fuck!" "What was that attack?!" -Whoosh! Amia then appeared right in front of Percy, trying to capture him, but he barely dodged using his fast speed. He looked around before dodging to a safer ce. Percy''s eyes turned blue, as he looked at Amia before he vanished from there. -Whoosh! And then appearing right behind her, as he moved for another attack. This time his attack contained a dozen times more power thanst time. -BOOOM!!!! There was a loud bang, but the attack that Percy did had no effect on Amia, as she simply healed at least a hundred times faster than before. Percy then jumped back before the saintess could catch him, reaching back to the group. The other yers saw this exchange and they began carefully assessing the value of their lives in exchange for points. And in the end, most of them began stepping back as they ran away from there. It wasn''t worth getting killed over when they could get some points from the guards who were much weaker than her. "What now?" Alex asked as he looked at the Saintess''s eyes dead set on them. She was practically ring at them, and it didn''t seem like she was going to leave them that easily. "I-" Alice was about to speak but then someone else stepped forward. "You guys go. I will hold her back until the event is over. I don''t think that I can defeat her even once, but as far as holding goes¡­ I think I can manage," Luke spoke as he smiled at the group before taking another step towards that Saintess. "Let''s go," Mark spoke without much emotion in his words, as he helped the vampire children before taking them away from the other direction. Alice followed behind him while Alex and Percy observed Luke for a moment. "You are dumb for this," Percy spoke before moving forward while Alex sighed and spoke,"it''s a stupid way to wash what you did in the tutorial. Well. Do whatever suits you." And then Alex too walked away from there while Luke kept observing the saintess. Even though he had a dozen things he wanted to say, he decided to keep quiet while keeping the Saintess in check. -Whoosh! [Aura Art: First Step: Boundation!] As the saintess was about to run after the group, Luke used his sword to create a heavy attack, pushing that saintess back. Her eyes widened as she looked at the area where Luke''s attack had damaged her. Even though she should be healing faster, she wasn''t anymore. "Let''s¡­. End this," Luke spoke with a slightly tired voice before focusing on the saintess once again. [Aura Art: Second Step: Entrapment!] ¡­ [Location: Outside Prince''s Room!] -nk! nk! nk! -Swish! [Blink!] -nk! nk! nk! The fight between the prince and Evelin was at its peak. Even though nobody has used all of their moves, their fight was at a high pace with Evelin constantly shifting her stance between dodging and attacking. Even though [camouge!] was working pretty well against the prince, the moment she was attacking, the prince ended up reaching to her before attacking with all his might! [Blink!] -BOOOM!!!! Evelin didn''t have much problem dodging him even then, though the problem of keeping him around the room remained much the same. With each attack the prince was breaking down all the walls with barely a few remaining. And as the fight continued, she was now fighting against the prince in an open hall, a hundred meters away from the room, where he should have been. ''Just 20 minutes more,'' Evelin saw the event timer before she sighed and continued her attack. The prince parried her arrows pretty much the same as before, though this time, rather than attacking her, he used all his might to hit the ground where she was standing. ''Shit!'' She cursed as she understood what he wanted to do. The floor broke downpletely as the prince went down under, until he reached the ground floor. "What?" "What happened?" "Shit! Is that the prince? Holy cow! He is worth 5000 Points!" "He is mine!" The yers surrounding the prince were shocked to see him falling from the ceiling. Their eyes had a mixture of greed and fear in them. Even though they knew that this was a big target, they knew it probably meant that he was equally strong as well. "Your Highness!" "Prince Rehan!" The sweet voice of two girls came, as they looked at the Prince who was standing a dozen steps away from him. The prince turned back, only to find that the twins were slowly regenerating from their death as their bodies were getting back into shape. And finally the prince realized that it wasn''t just a small assination from that girl as he had predicted from before. His eye red as he looked around at all the yers, before he turned to the twins and asked, "Luna. Mona. What is going on here?" Chapter 80: [The end of the Event!] [Location: Treasury of the Castle!] "Just where did these crazy monsterse from?" Aboth, the current ''king'' of this kingdom, was hiding in the treasury wearing all the artifacts on himself. Even though he was previously a general in name, he was actually a pathetic coward who got this position with connections and bribing. Enjoying his days of pleasure and power, he was living a fulfilling life. Though that was until the otherworlders came to this world and began killing everyone like madmen. "Thesembs, these power sources. How dare they treat me, the Great Aboth, like this? Once the sunes up, I will show them what it means to go against me! And those girls¡­ hehehe¡­" an ugly expression appeared on his face. His smile filled with lust, he licked his lips while fantasizing all those girls. -Click! A voice resounded at the gate, shaking Aboth from his daydreaming, as he looked at the gate fearfully. His eyes were focused at the gate as a single girl appeared from that ce. A blonde girl wearing a cloak as she checked around the area. Her eyes were carefully observing the treasury, but if one looked properly there was a lot of greed in them. Even the symbol of money was present in her eyes if one looked carefully. Anyways, as she was moving into the room, her eyes then fell at the corner where the man with a dozen artifacts was lying in fear. Her eyes narrowed before she hid behind one of the artifact shelves. "I thought there was no one inside the treasury," Avida mumbled in irritation as she wondered what she should do now. Even though she was capable of fighting, she wanted to save some strength while escaping out of here. ''All right. Let''s assess the situation first,'' She calmed down as she looked through the corners once again. She could tell with a single nce that it was that King that was present when they first entered here. ''What is he doing here? And with so many artifacts on him?'' Avida''s mind kept running as she asked all sorts of obvious questions and came to the obvious result. This king was a coward, and was hiding from the yers. If he were strong, he wouldn''t be cowering here in a random corner of the treasury. Though the fact that he was wearing a dozen artifacts also meant that it won''t exactly be a cake walk to defeat him. "Though since it''s just artifacts¡­ I don''t think it should be a problem," Avida smiled as she then ran around the corners, hiding behind the shelves and slowly moving forward, until she reached really close to that King. She took a deep breath before suddenly standing in his line of vision. "EEEK!" That guy was rmed as he saw her, before he pointed a gun in her direction. "You must be-" Avida wanted to get close to him but before she even took a step, that guy shot at Avida with deep fear in his eyes. -SHOT! Easily evading that shot, Avida looked at him with a serious look that changed into a wide grin as she realized that this guy can''t fight at all. "I am gonna enjoy torturing this one," she spoke out loud as she moved towards that prince. -SHOT! SHOT! SHOT! [Steal!] She dodged most of the attacks before using her special skill that she got from her [Gift!] and stealing the artifact that she had seen and assessed in the few seconds of their exchange. The color on Aboth''s face was drained as he saw his gun vanishing from his hand and appearing right in Avida''s. Though the major reason was the devilish smile that Avida had on her face right now. ¡­ [Location: South West Laboratory!] "Just a bit more, and we are done," Levi spoke as he indulged himself deeper into the machinery, trying to find all the clues and connecting them. Given how he was canceling the iing reinforcements without letting the enemy send even a single person to this side, he was pretty much enjoying the whole process. Outside the rest of the staff had already run away into hiding given how the yers were behaving. Hence theboratory was empty right now, with Levi being the only one present there. It was also one of the reasons why he could finish the work faster than before. "I could connect with the baseline and then we can cut the power supply. This should turn the immortals into mortals but¡­ what should I do about the barrier? Hmmm¡­ since it''s not my area of expertise, I will let Adrian handle this," Levi mumbled as he continued to make changes throughout the machinery. While the life supply and the reinforcement was connected to the machinery, it was easy to take control over them. But for the barrier. It seemed to be functioning on its own, like it has a life of its own. ''Pretty creepy,'' He mumbled as he continued with the work. On the sideline, he was also keeping an eye on how everything was going on. A smile was ever present on his face as he saw his group members handling the situation with pretty much ease. Even though there were minor disturbances, most of the problems were solved on their own. "I should be careful¡­ this is addicting," Levi''s grin widened as he stopped another 10 portals that were about to take shape within the castle. His eyes glimmered as the problems in front of him were increasing. The harder they were, the wider the grin on Levi''s face. ¡­ [Location: On the Surface! Right outside the Prison Gate near the central Hallway!] [Adrian''s POV!] I was observing the situation on the map, and it seems most of the things are still under control. I was surprised to find the Prince on the ground floor, but nothing was out of calction. Another thing that I was surprised about was the improvement with Luke. ''He got better, didn''t he?'' I thought as I saw him handling Amia by himself. Even though he was still naive and his past mistakes cannot be erased just because he seemed to be better, I think I can put him into observation for now. Though before that¡­ I closed my eyes to use the [Spatial Mastery!] and see those three idiots ring at each other behind me. Given their past circumstances, I kind of understand them but honestly. I don''t really care. I just want to create a perfect ecosystem where this kingdom can survive and thrive by itself. If not for the quests, I would rather have them all killed since that would be the best oue. Except the Prince of course, whom I would be using as the proxy king while managing it all in the hindsight until the kingdom bes a self functioning high defense kingdom. "Are you guys done? I know that you all know that all three of you have suffered enough. If you want to continue hating the same people that are going to be your most trusted allies against those bastards, then you are only going to get killed again. Don''t tell me that petty differences are going toe in between your real resolve?" I asked as I looked at them, making them all observe me with a deep look. I don''t care whether they solve the problem, or die with it. But if they somehow happen to hinder my ns, then only they will be med for their own demise. I aren''t exactly ying hero here, anyways. They all turned quiet before I sighed and then focused back on the yers who were still killing all the NPCs. A smile blossomed on my face as I looked at the system notification that showed how many collective skill points they have collected up until now. [Total Event Skill Points: 271,651!] ''At least something is going right,'' I smiled as I was sure to get 110k skill points after this event. Enough to up another one of my skills to S-Grade. Though something else happened before that. Something that widened my smile even more¡­ I saw the strange energy that was supporting the life of those immortal beings. It vanished from the castle. Levi has sessfully blocked that life energy. The immortals have turned into mortals now. ¡­ [Location: Underground Prison!] [Invar''s POV!] As I was fighting this seemingly never ending fight, I looked at the sudden system message that appeared in front of me. [The Life energy of the NPCs have been cut! From now on, they will die if you kill them!] A wide grin appeared on my face as I looked at those 7 Royal Guards, who were now observing with horror appearing in their eyes. They were surely bbering about how they would kill me and use my swords on their own¡­ these bastards¡­ "Aren''t you gonnae at me?" Iughed as I looked at them, making sure to make thisst death, as painful as possible. ¡­ [Luke''s POV!] I thought this was over. I looked at that Saintess barely alive, fallen on the ground, shocked with her eyes wide open as she couldn''t believe what was going on. [The Life energy of the NPCs have been cut! From now on, they will die if you kill them!] ''Perfect timing,'' I sighed as I was d that I hadn''t killed her a few moments ago. Else she might still be in her full power. Now, killing them would end this never ending charade. "Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!" She started shouting as she looked at me. Her eyes were crying as she began crawling away from me. I was about to pity her, but recalling how she was going on and on about how she would kill me and eat me alive and stuff¡­ I shook my head before moving closer to her. "You bastard! DIE!" She shouted as she threw a wave of light magic at me. But I then mumbled, [Aura Art: Fourth Step: Absorb!] That wave of light was absorbed within my sword, before I made another sh in her direction. [Aura Art: Fifth Step: Reflect!] That attack reached her legs, cutting them off from her body as she screamed loudly. And then moving one step at a time, I reached closer to her. "Hey! Boy! I know there is something you want! I can give you anything you want? Girls? Power? Money? Anything! Just name it!" She tried negotiating but I was too tired to even think of it. I just wanted to get over it. Using Aura art is mentally taxing. "Boy! You don''t know what you are messing wi-" -sh! I cut her into two parts, as her body fell on the ground, before turning into golden lights. After the effects, I saw a Card appearing at the ce where she was before. [C-Grade Skill Card: Self-Regeneration!] ''Hmmm. Pretty weak for a C-Grade,'' I mumbled as I then took the card before walking away from there. I wonder how the others are doing right now. Chapter 81: [Event End!] As soon as Levi finished the task, Adrian sent a message using his illusion to everyone present in the castle. The yers who were beginning to struggle against the NPCs, refound their hope as they began attacking even more than before. On the other hand, the NPCs began shaking in fear as they found their partners dying for real. Those who were much stronger than the others like the Prince and the Twins immediately found that their life energy had been cut and they needed to be careful with their attacks and defense. As for the weaker guards, they could only learn it the hard way. Amia was dead and Luke was now killing the rest of the weaker enemies on his way. The 7 Royal Guards were dead and Invar was moving outside, going to meet with his teammates as he looked at the 7 Cards in his hand. Even though half of them were useless, 3 of them seemed that they could be useful, hence he was wondering if he should use them or not. Though in the end he kept them in before continuing to walk. As for the Reinforcement, Levi has rewritten the entire program in such a way that opening a portal within the city was impossible for the enemy. At least using this machinery. Thus, he too got up from that machinery and began walking towards the main castle gate where all the yers were collected. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] "You guys go to the main hall on the third floor. I will send all the vampires there. Your work would be to calm them down until Ie back with the yers," I spoke to the trio, and though hesitant, they all nodded at me. Well. At least they weren''t ring at each other anymore. The trio left from there, taking the stairs up while I looked in front, from where a familiar person was walking with a bright smile on her face. From her looks, it seemed she was pretty sessful in her task. "Avida!" I shouted her name, making her turn at me, before her smile blossomed even more. She ran towards me before reaching close to me and.. -BAM!!! I blocked her punch, making her re at me as she spoke,"you didn''t tell me there would be that bastard king hiding in that treasury." "He wasn''t therest I checked," I shrugged as I looked at her, while she sighed before smiling again as she spoke,"well. I got the treasure. Damn, there was a lot. Like really a lot," her smile turned into a grin while I chuckled before looking at the screen message I got. [Total Event skill points: 301,047!] [Your Share: 120,012!] ''I guess we both got a lot this time,'' I smiled as I then patted her head -BOOM! Before she punched me in the gut. "Stop treating me like a cat," She looked at me with a re again before I smiled. My [Parkour] skill, can cancel momentum, so I could easily withstand an attack of that much intensity. Though Avida subbed my stomach as she was surprised to see me still standing in front of her. "Did you get some form of strength up or something?" She asked curiously. "Kind of." "Tch!" "Did you just ''tch'' me?" "Must be your imagination." We bickered as we walked towards the main hall. I saw Invar walking with Levi, as they both were talking to each other. Calling them towards us, I then asked how everything went. And based on how they exined everything with a cheerful expression, it seemed like they had their fun as well. Reaching outside, towards the main gate, I saw the battle was still going on. Thest enemy NPC, the Prince, was still remaining as he battled through the hordes of yers. Though based on the coordination of the yers the situation was pretty much unfavorable towards him. Firstly, he was barely able to move with all those restriction spells on him. Every step was restricted with either [Paralysis!] or [Slow] or simr spells. Then there were at least a dozen more weakening spells that were aimed at him, decreasing his overall power even more. Even though he was a proper B-Grade, now with all those hindrances, one can''t even call him a C-Grade anymore. If not for the base stats and skills with which he was able to kill the closebat yersing closer to him, he would have been killed pretty easily by anyone present here. ''Should I go for thest kill?'' I thought this seemed fun, but then I noticed Boss moving in herself. I paused my steps before letting her take the final kill. It was her task so my interference will only make her feel more bad about herself. "You bastards! Do you think you have won?! YOU CAN''T EVEN ESCAPE FROM HERE! HAHAHAHA! THIS BARRIER WAS CREATED BY OUR GOD HIMSELF AND ONLY HE CAN LET YOU ALL OUT!" He began shouting as everyone halted their steps. Given how he was bleeding from everywhere, it didn''t seem like he wouldst much longer. "You are all going to starve to death. Nobody can save you-" and then as he was giving his speech, his head flew off while he tried to look at his killer with his eyes widened. His body fell and turned into ash as the rest of the yers ran to get the card. However, when they reached closer to him, there wasn''t any card present which they could take. A few momentster, "Good Job Boss," I smiled at her, as she appeared from the shadows. As soon as I said that, her smile widened as she nodded at me. "Umu." Before she passed on the [B-Grade] card to me. It was the same card she got for killing that prince. I checked the card before passing it back to her as I spoke, "I don''t need it, boss. I think you should keep it and exchange it for points in the shop when we return to the tutorial." She nodded before keeping the card to herself. "The Prince wasn''t lying though. I tried finding the key to that barrier but there wasn''t any. It is a separate entity from the machine that was powering their resurrection," Levi spoke with a thoughtful expression. His eyes then turned to me, hoping I could find an answer to this. I pondered for a few seconds before speaking, "Leave the barrier to me. I will open it somehow." [Item: Game Master''s Key! Grade: Primordial! Status: Bound to Adrian John Rodriguez! Effects: Once every 24 Hours, the Game master can unlock any locked item/door!] ''I guess, I don''t need to worry about the barrier for now,'' I sighed as I then looked at the yers who were trying to break the barrier on their own. Since the event gave them all quite a bit of skill points, some of them were actively trying to increase some of their weaker skills. There was a smile present on everyone''s faces as they got busy with their skill sets. "You guys should also take a break. You are going to need it," I spoke as I recalled the rest of the quest. There was a waring and I had no idea when the enemy would strike. So the least we can do is take a break and recover our energy. Nodding, the group then left from there before I looked at my own skills. I pondered a bit about which skill I should upgrade this time, but then I paused as I decided to wait for now. I wanted to take this time to create a mana based skill that would fulfill all the requirements of any mana rted skill possible. Though before that I need to know about the mana itself. And since I already have a person who seems to have a bit of a knowledge about [Mana], I happily walked towards that girl with a smile. "What should we do now?" Alex asked as he looked at Alice, though before she could answer, I waved at her, making her eyes widen before she smiled brightly. "Adrian!" She spoke out before she began walking towards me. The rest of the group saw me, a bit surprised before they began walking towards me as well. And as they reached closer to me¡­ -BOOM!!! I got punched hard by Mark who was ring at me right now. -BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! He kept punching me for a while, as a crowd gathered around me. People were questioning what was going on as I kept lying on the ground, taking all those punches at my face. ''I guess I deserve this,'' I thought as I realized how much of a dick I have been to Mark. He probably was worried sick of me, while I have been enjoying this whole situation. But if I had met him, there was a chance he would have asked toe along with me. I couldn''t afford that. At least not in the tutorial when I needed to go on a hunt in the forest. Since I can''t tell him about myplete strength, he would have totally stopped me from going there. "You could have told me that you were alive," he spoke as he looked at me with silent eyes. I could see the sadness in them, and the hidden relief behind that sadness. "I got a seperate quest that forced me not," I lied as I looked at him. His eyes weren''t believing me but he let go of me as he stood up before speaking, "Let''s go into our room. I want to know everything that is going on. I can''t afford to lose my only bestfriend once again. I¡­ can''t." And I sighed as I nodded, wondering what should I tell him and what I should hide. Chapter 82: [Looming Danger!] [Location: About 500 Kilometers away from the City where Adrian and the rest of the yers were!] -Whoosh! In the dead of the night, a lone girl was running with all her might. Her speed wasparable to fast super cars as she ran through the forest and the desert. Crossingkes and rivers within seconds as she killed everything in between. She was the Seat 11 of the unknown group that was slowly taking over the entire tower, mostly seeding in their mission. Their reasons were unknown to many and even their existence was a myth. Among the members, the 12, who were the strongest, were given a seat in the round circle. Their power wasparable to most of the admins themselves and they alone could beparable to thebined strength of all the yers of the entire first 20 floors. From seat 12 to the top, the ascending order is ording to their power and the extent of their [Gift]. And being Seat 11, the girl was the second least powerful member of the group. Even then her power was somewhere around that to those of Admins of the tower. In the entire tower there were barely 50-60 people who were stronger than her. And that included the admins, gods, high rankers and the Tower Managers. "Half way done. Half more to go," Seat 11 spoke as she looked at the front without any break in her speed. "Just a few more weeks and we will take control over the entire tower. And then, I can finally go back to my old world," she spoke as a smile appeared on her face. Seat 11 was a girl from a forgotten world that the tower failed to protect. Even though the apocalypse had descended upon that world and most of it was gone, that world still existed. Unlike many who wanted to thrive in the tower and gain all the powers they could, Seat 11 had lost everything in her life. At this point, she simply wanted to die. But since there was a chance to fuck this tower over and go back to their home where she could die peacefully, then what''s the harm in trying that? What''s the worst that can happen? She would simply die. "Just a bit more sister. And I will meet you soon," she mumbled in sadness as the wind brushed past her face. The cold wind against the silent night view made her recall pleasant memories. Nostalgia hit her hard as a few tears escaped her eyes. And then as she enjoyed those tears with a smile, she kept running at the same pace towards the destination where the ''unknown variable'' was present. ¡­ [Location: The Human Kingdom!] "You sure are a good specimen! It would be fun to dissect you to get your power," the king of holy humans spoke as he looked at the Seat 3 in front of him. The entire castle had turned into dust with debris lying around the duo as far as the eyes can see. Yet, not a single scratch was present on either of their bodies. "I must say. I underestimated you. This is taking much more time than I expected," Seat 3 spoke as he looked at the pocket watch in his hand. It showed a timer of 1 minute and 8 seconds. This also meant that the entire destruction around them happened in merely a minute and a few seconds. "Haha! You sure are cocky! To think you canst against me for this long! Thest person who was able to do that was the Vampire King himself. Tell me kid, what''s your name?" The King of Holy humans spoke with a pride filled expression. Even though he was still looking down on Seat 3, he was now respecting the enemy. ording to him, Seat 3 was worthy of being remembered by the Holy King. "Is that so? But I must say¡­ you are not worthy of knowing my name," Seat 3 mocked the king, making him narrow his eyes at Seat 3. But then a worry filled expression appeared on Seat 3''s face. "Since none of the basic spells are enough to take him down, should I go for the intermediate? But that would end up destroying a fraction of this as well," Seat 3 mumbled as he began talking to himself. Not waiting for the enemy, the Holy King prepared a huge spear of light. Its length was about a kilometer and the width of the rod was around 50 meters. Pointing it at the Seat 3, the king spoke, "Farwell kid. It was nice meeting you. Too bad I can''t research your body." And then the King threw the spear at Seat 3. "Well. It''s a necessary sacrifice. 1 would surely understand," Seat 3 spoke as the pages of his grimoire rapidly turned before it reached a certain page that glowed silver. [Skill Book Page 97: The Fate of a Doomed World: Spell 1: ck Hole!] And then¡­ A ck hole appeared in the sky, beginning to take everything in. At first it was the spear that the King threw. Then it was the surrounding, the dirt, the air, the nts and the seas. Slowly it began taking everything inside, rapidly breaking down the itself. The King''s eyes widened as he saw the ck hole in front him. Because he could see the mana present on the, he was even more shocked than before. That was because even the mana of the was rapidly being sucked into that ck hole. "YOU BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU!" The King shouted but it was toote. At this point, he, too, began to be sucked into the ck hole along with everything in his surroundings. The more the ck hole sucked its surroundings, the bigger it got. The king could only feel despair as he looked at that ck hole. He needed to escape. If he cannot escape, he will really die. He must run away from here or else¡­ A deep rooted fear began to form in the King''s mind. But before he could even begin to escape. "You were surely stronger than the Vampire. It''s sad though¡­ because of your power, I can''t even use you¡­ truly a pity," Seat 3 spoke as he turned the pages of his grimoire again. [Skill Book Page 2: The Peak Martial: First Skill: Basic Punch!] A simple spell that should have had no effect on the King. -Booom! Was ironically the hardest punch that the King ever received in his life. And perhaps thest one too. Pushed by the punch, the King was thrown into the ck hole, which ate him up alive, separating his entirety into millions and billions of pieces. Until there is nothing left. And once the work was done, Seat 3 closed the book, undoing the ck hole spell, as it left only destruction behind. About a 100 kilometers of area was gone, as the lone man stood in the air, wondering if this much damage was worth it. But in the end, he only sighed as he mumbled, "At least I got the work done." His eyes then looked back, specifically to the other world where the Seat 11 was. He pondered a little before mumbling, "I guess, I can go to sleep until she appears here." And then he vanished from there, leaving only destruction behind. ¡­ [Location: ????] The aura of two beings was being reflected in a pond. Even though one cannot see their body or shape, they can tell that one of them was a female with ck aura, and the other one was a male with golden white aura. With a heavy voice that was filled with relief yet tension, the woman spoke,"Are you sure asking for their help was the right choice? At this rate there would be nothing left in this world?" "I understand but¡­ it''s still better than one of the worlds beingpletely destroyed and the other one being eaten alive by the Gctic worms," the man with the white aura spoke. He has an air of dignity, but everytime he looked at the world breaking, his pride would slowly crumble, killing him from the inside. "Why is¡­ fate so cruel to us? Why does the tower want to destroy this beautiful world? Just what did it do to the tower?" The woman asked. Her voice was breaking, she was angry, upset. Things were perfect before. But everything changed as soon as the tower began interfering in their existence. Changing their fates and destinies¡­ ying with their lives. "That is why we are taking their side. To destroy the tower as fast as possible¡­ that is our only hope to retain the worlds that are rightfully ours," the man spoke with a deep sigh, while the woman sobbed. "Is there really no other way?" The woman asked with a weak voice, while the man turned silent. Wondering the same thing that the women asked. Is there¡­ really no other way? ¡­ [Location: At a certain random boundary, where the fabric between the Tutorial and the First Floor was breaking!] A woman walked through the corruption rift, escaping the chains of the tower as she betrayed the role that bound her to the first floor Even though this wasn''t the destination that she wanted to reach, still this was a ce that didn''t make her feel suffocated. She could breath freely here, and she raised her arms trying to take in this air that was foreign to her. "It''s refreshing," she mumbled as she looked at this new world in front of her. Something she hadn''t seen for over a millennium or more. Nora, the soul of the first floor has entered into the Tutorial 5. Chapter 83: [The Anxiety behind the Smiles!] Adrian''s POV] "So basically, you got a contract in the first tutorial just like Alice, and were immediately called upon for a secret quest that you cannot share?" Mark asked as he narrowed his eyes at me. I wanted to avoid him and run away but I gotta be here with this group as well. After all, while my old group will handle all the things in the background, I would need a front group that can handle everything at the surface level. Plus more importantly, he is my friend. So it won''t be a nice thing to turn my back around to the only few people whom I can trust. Hearing his words, I nodded at him, which made him sigh before walking a couple of steps forward as he brought his cheek a bit towards me. Confused, I looked at him before he pointed at his cheek without speaking anything. "I am not Gay Mark. I am not kissing you-" -BOOM! And Mark punched me in my gut before ring at me. "Ow! What was that for?"I asked as I held my stomach, where he punched. Then sighing he spoke, "I am not either, you bastard. Now punch me 18 times, to make sure we are even." I looked at him with a surprise, before I smiled. Ain''t that so nice of him? "I know I can be dumb-" he was speaking as I interrupted him. "You are," I answered. He paused for a moment before continuing," And there are many times I make mistakes." "Sure you do," I answered again with a smile. "Listen Adrian! This isn''t funny! Our lives are on the line¡­ I can''t¡­ pretend everything is fine¡­" he spoke as he started turning silent again. His eyes looked heavy. I wonder how long it has been since he slept? Did he sleep at all? He seemed tired. "We can die at any moment. Our life can change at any moment. Somehow we are reduced to be mere ythings for this tower. I don''t like this. I want to go back. I want to go back to the days where we could rx without any worries! Without any tension! Without needing to fight for our life everyday!" He spoke out loud. He was breaking a little. My friend¡­ my best friend¡­ he was not only physically tired but also mentally exhausted. It was then I questioned something. Something that I had been neglecting for so long. My eyes turned to Alice. And then to Alex. Then I looked at Luke on the [Map!] who was sitting alone, all by himself in the corner. And then to the other yers who were somehow more silent than before. ''None of them are asleep. They are scared,'' I saw fear in their eyes. Worry, cautious and so many heavy emotions. Everyone except me was getting tired. Even though these events might have cheered them up, this also made them fear of sudden attack during the night. My old group wasparatively calmer but weren''t they a special case? Their entire life was like this, so this isn''t new to them. ''Yet, none of them are sleeping even though they used to do it before the apocalypse,'' I sighed as I understood that even they were more cautious than before. The very castle where they were supposed to rx, now they wondered if they would be alive tomorrow? Or will they be able to escape out of here or not? I was¡­ taking this whole thing a bit too lightly, wasn''t I? Wouldn''t I have been the same without my [Game Master System!]? ''Not really. But I don''t know if I could have survived this far without it,'' I sighed as I realized that I had been taking this thing for granted now. "Adrian?" Alice asked as she saw me getting lost in my thoughts. There was worry in her eyes, and I sighed before looking back at Mark, "I will create a ce. A ce where we can rx and enjoy. I don''t know if we can bring back the past days, but if it''s just about creating a ce which we can call home. Then, I think it should be possible." "Will you be able to?" Alex asked as he seemed pretty serious with his words. I don''t know why, but I saw hope in his eyes, as if he was asking for confirmation from me. "Yes. But it will require all of our efforts. Mark, I am sorry that I have kept things hidden from you. I will probably do it again, many times¡­ but we will always be friends," I spoke as I looked at Mark. He slowly looked at me before nodding. "It''s all right Adrian. I just got a bit emotional when I saw you alive. It made me really happy brother," he spoke and I smiled before thanking him for understanding my situation. Then I pondered a little about the current situation before I reached a proper conclusion. "Mark. Alex. You both should sleep for now. I and Alice will keep the perimeter in check. 6 hourster, we will take turns to sleep, and you guys can do the same," I looked at the duo as I suggested the idea. Though reluctant they nodded after Alice agreed with me. And within a few minutes, both of them fell into deep sleep, making me smile before I turned to Alice, "How are you?" "I am good. How about you? You okay? With the contract and all," Alice asked a bit worried but I nodded before speaking, "It''s not exactly a contract but a deal. I need to fulfill his quests and in exchange I get information and skills. He said that there are all forms of contracts. Even though he seemed to be pretty cunning, he seemed to be the fair type." Alice was skeptical of the contract but seeing that I wasn''t worried, she too calmed down. "Speaking of Contracts, what happened back in the safe zone? You said they took you somewhere and showered you with skills and knowledge?" I then steered the topic towards her contract. At first I asked what happened which she told me in detail without hiding anything. And then as we moved on to the topic, I started asking about Mana and the way it''s handled. Alice said that she knew only the very basics given how little time she had to learn there. Though what she told me, was enough to give me a general idea of what type of skill I want. Still I asked her to exin as much as she understood the topic. It was insightful and could be really great useful in case I came across a being using mana to support his entire living. There were also discussions about other forms of energies such as Aura and Spirit Energy. Though given the limited amount of time, she only knew of the names of such energies. The topic went on for an hour before I saw her yawning as well. I chuckled as I insisted her to sleep, which she disagreed at first. But then after I told her that it''s fine as I have slept before and even I have a couple of S-Grade skills, she finally agreed and then moved to sleep. After that, I deleted [Mana Control] and [Mana Regeneration!]. Since they were my innate skills that came with Mana, they cost about half a million to be deleted. Though since I already had something else in mind, I deleted them without hesitation before typing something that I needed. [Energy Connection! Grade: D Effects: Allows the user to connect with all forms of energy and control them to a minor extent! The user can feel the presence of even the thinnest strain of energy of any form present around him] [Would you like to create the following skill for 70,000 GM Points?] I clicked [Yes!] before pouring [100 Skill Points] into it. I made some minor changes before pouring another [1000 Skill Points]. A few more minor changes and then [10,000 Skill Points!] With the limited GM points, I then made the final possible changes before upgrading it once more with [100,000 Points!] As for the final result. [Skill: The One Grade: S Effects: -Healing: Allows the user to take in surrounding energy and heal himself or others at rapid speed! -Telepathic Communication: The ability to connect mentally with others by sensing their thoughts or emotions through energetic fields. -Empathy: A heightened sense of emotional awareness, where one can deeply feel or influence the emotions of others by connecting with their energy. -Control of Elements: Allow individuals to manipte the elements¡ªsuch as fire, water, air, and earth¡ªby controlling the energy within these natural forces. -Weather Control: By tapping into the''s energy fields, the user could control weather patterns like storms, wind, and rain. -Energy sts: The ability to project powerful bursts of energy for defensive or offensive purposes. -Force Fields: Using energy to create protective barriers or shields around oneself or others. -Energy Constructs: Forming solid objects, weapons, or structures from pure energy. -Energy Amplification: Using external energy to enhance one''s abilities or increase their potency. -Energy Absorption: Allows the user to absorb all forms of energy to a certain extent, replenishing the user''s own reserves!] With this much, I won''t need to be worried about Mana for quite a long time. Mental, Physical and Mana aspects are done now. ''Ain''t that nice,'' I thought before looking at my status screen. And what I saw made my eyes widened as I looked at the changes that my new skills had brought. "Holy¡­ Shit!" I couldn''t help but wonder if it was really my status screen at all? Chapter 84: [System Changes!] [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! Title: [Goblin Hunter] ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Blessings: Blessing of Gaia(S) Surface Dweller(E) Thoth''s Wisdom (B) Gift: [Cartography (Mortal Grade-4)] Body-Talent: [Triple-Equilibrium Heavenly Body!] Health: 22000/22000 Energy: 25000/25000 Attributes: Strength: 182 (+30) Agility: 154 (+200) Constitution: 120 (+100) Stamina: 100.0 (+100) Intelligence: 220 (+30) Wisdom: 125 (+50) Charm: 80 (+30) Free Attribute Points: 15 Points: 57,244,971! Skills: Active: [Hunt!] [Aura!] [Illusion!] [elerated Analysis!] Passive: [Perception!] [The One!] [Professional Cooking!] [Absolute Nullification!] [Kic Mastery!] [Inventory!] Gift: [Mapping][Perfect Measurement][Eidetic Memory!][Spatial Sense!] Items: Stealth Cloak(C) ck Leather Armour of Grace(C) ck Leather Boots of Grace(C) ck Leather Gloves of Grace(C) Unloved Ring of Grace(C) Unloved Ne of Grace(D) Twin Guns of Azeroth(C) Amulet of Pathseeker(?) Sword of Grace(C) Mask of the Crow(E)] The first change was that instead of Mana, now Energy was present as my second stat. And my [Body], which I was leaving forter, somehow changed from [Mortal] to [Triple-Equilibrium Heavenly Body!] [Body: Triple-Equilibrium Heavenly Body Grade: A Description: The Body of a being whose 3 of 5 sides have formed aplete harmony with each other. Their limits have been pushed to their peak and beyond, allowing the being to perform feats at a heavenly level. Effects: Harmony of Energy: -For every 1 point in intelligence, the user''s Energy increases by 100 -Allows the user to convert his energy into any form at a ratio of 1:1. Harmony of Body: -Increases the Base Physical Stats of the User by 150 -The Constitution to Health Ratio has been readjusted to 1:100. -When the user exerts a pressure on any of his stats, he can increase that particr stat by 100% at the cost of 50% reduction of other 3 Stats. Harmony of Mind: -Base Wisdom of the user increases by 100 -All Energy/Wisdom Based skills of the User have their overall effect and duration increased by 100%. And their cooldown reduced by 50%. Triple Harmony State: Once every 30 Days, the user can attain an enhanced state, going beyond the normal realm. For 10 minutes, all the powers that the user have will be increased by a factor of 10, and the cooldown of all skills will be reduced to 0. ] "¡­" I rubbed my eyes trying to read the entire thing over again. And honestly, it was¡­ broken. I already had all the three things at peak, but with this I don''t even need to worry even if I were to face an S-Grade Monster. ''Still. I would rather not face it at all,'' I shook my head before taking a proper look at my stats again. Even though it said that they have increased by 100 or 150. I saw that some of them were a bit more or a bit less than what they should have been. "Did they get readjusted or something?" I mumbled as I checked the entire System once again. With this my basics are done, and I won''t need to be worried about mybat prowess for the time being. ''So should I focus on my [Gift] Next?'' I questioned as this seemed to be the most obvious choice next. I kind of wanted to find out what were the other 2 aspects that weren''t in harmony right now but since I had no idea, I put it at the back of my mind. Another reason I had was because of the wide area this tutorial had. If I try and push, I can actually map it enough to push the [Gift!] to [Upper Mortal Grade!]. ''So the three aspects are done, and we can go for the [Gift!] as our next target. Other than that, there are my gears that I need to upgrade at least to A-Grade, and also get another one of my skills to S-Grade,'' I calcted everything at once before reaching an obvious question. What should be the next skill that I should improve? Something beyond the norm like Time powers, or something within my range like a skill that helps me achieve mastery of everything faster? Limitless growth? Or a skill that gives me random stat? Or perhaps a skill that allows me to never get tired? Infinite stamina does sound nice¡­ hmmm. This just got a bitplex. I sighed as I cleared my mind first. Even though the ideas were fascinating I must not forget that I needed a skill that would go well with all my other skills. Choosing an individual skill will do more harm than good. "Well," I then stretched a little as I observed my teammates sleeping soundly. A smile appeared on my face before I continued speaking," it won''t be bad to first recollect everyone here. The Vampires are waiting-" And as soon as I said that, I suddenly sensed a strange energy lingering in the air. A suffocating feeling surrounded my body as I found that foul energying from a direction outside the castle, from the forest itself. ''Seems like I won''t have much rest tonight,'' I thought as I sighed before vanishing from there. An unexpected guest has entered the city. It would be rude to not wee her. ¡­ [Location: ????] The same ce where the two heavenly beings were present, their aura flickered as they observed the scene going on in the two worlds. Since Seat 3 was now gone into a different dimension to take a break, they were observing Seat 11s movements. Though they were mostly bored since the enemy were a bunch of kids with barely any power. They did not know the purpose of Seat 11 visiting there, but since they didn''t have anything else to do, they could only watch her, wondering what she was doing at such a remote ce. "Ah! It''s the ce where I created a barrier for the people. I forgot about it since has been a long time," The man with golden white aura spoke as be observed the barrier before looking at the yers inside the castle. "Since it''s your barrier, doesn''t that means that the kids are just waiting to get ughtered in there? Do you think that girl has some form of fetishes?" The woman in ck aura asked as the man shook his head. "I don''t know. I guess it''s bad luck," the man sighed. "Since it''s your barrier, can''t you remove it? The kids should have an equal chance of fighting," the woman spoke empathetically, but the man shook his head as answered, "I can''t. I need to personally descend there to that and since we were asked not to interrupt them, there is nothing we can do." The woman looked dejected at his response before she asked, "How strong is the barrier? Any chance they can break it?" "It''s created by me, Geira. Unless someone strong enough to challenge a God appears, the barrier won''t even budge-" The man paused as he looked at the screen. His eyes observed the sudden change on that barrier with his widening a bit with confusion mixed in them. "What happened?" Geira asked as he looked at the slightly rmed face of the man, while he nkly kept staring at the gate of the castle while be answered, "The Barrier¡­ it was unlocked?" And then he looked at the key he had in his inventory. The only thing that could possibly open that barrier without breaking it. ¡­ [Location: Just inside the South Gate of the city!] [Seat 11''s POV!] I walked into the city as my eyes looked at the dead night, not even a single soul present around. Other than the castle which showed signs of life, everything else was pretty dead. ''Crowley. Lets see what you are hiding,'' I thought as I took the first step towards the castle, enjoying the stroll in the dead of the night. Even though I needed to hurry, gettingte by a few more minutes wasn''t going to change anything in the ns. Though my steps halted as I then felt a presence standing in front of me. My eyes narrowed as a man wearing ck cloak and a ck mask appeared in front of me. His eyes closed, he walked towards me as he adjusted his gloves while he spoke, "A young girl like you shouldn''t walk thiste at night." Sensing that strange energy in his body, I felt a familiar sensationing off from him. Even though he was much much weaker than him inparison, this energy felt strangely familiar to him. The Seat 2. ''Is this why it was difficult to trace him? Because of that strange energy on him? No. That does not makes sense¡­ in the first ce is he even the Crowley I am looking for,'' I pondered before questioning him, "Are you Crowley?" He paused with a bit of a surprise on his face. Even though he had his eyes closed, I could feel him sensing my entire being. ''A skill that allows you to see in all directions? No wonder his eyes are closed. And given how he appeared out of nowhere¡­ teleportation?'' I found out two of his skills. Since he had just finished his tutorial, I think he should have one or two more unique skills. At most 3. "I am. It seems I have fans I don''t know of," he spoke with an amused smile before he reached about 20 meters ahead of me. ''Idiot!'' I smiled widely as I reached closer to him in an instant, before grabbing his neck. Though¡­ my hands passed through him as I sensed him appearing a few meters to the right of me. "Quite a feisty one, I see," he said observing my movements. It''s as if he could see through my entire being at once. A slight chill ran down my spine but it wasn''t the first time I was up against such an opponent. ''A skill that shows enemies stats and an illusion based skill? That makes it 4. On their own, they won''t be much of a prowess but together¡­ it''s going to be tricky,'' I thought as I realized his fighting pattern. Standing up properly I stretched before smiling. Seems like Seat 4''s vision was right again. Even though I wasn''t serious, to dodge my attack isn''t an easy feat you can do with just luck. "You have quite an interesting collection of skills. All right, you piqued my interest. How about a deal?" He looked at me with a confused expression before asking,"Deal?" "Yeah. One minute. Last against me for one minute and I will give you an offer you can never refuse." I then cracked my fingers before preparing to test this guy. I think 2% of my power should be enough for now. Chapter 85: [Tower Restrictions!] [Adrian''s POV!] I saw her raising a single finger at my illusion. Since the opponent was really strong, I then mixed a bit of ''Energy'' into those illusions to create a fake presence. Using a bit more of it, I masked my presence over my already reduced presence. -Whoosh! -BOOM!!! She then tried catching the illusion as she punched hard, destroying the wall in front of her. With the extent of power shown in the [Map], I think she was barely using any of it. ''Well. At least she is underestimating me. Though how should I defeat her? It certainly seems impossible given the difference of power between us. Even if I use everything in my arsenal, I doubt I could even put a scratch on her,'' I wondered as I kept erasing and creating more illusion matching her speed, enough to barely dodge her but not enough to make her understand that I could easily do much better. Since she is testing me, I think it would be better to let her see that I am struggling. This way, I can have her guard down for emergency situations. Another thing that I noticed was the huge amount of dirty energying off from her. From the deep dirty purple color shown on the map, it seems like she too was using the same [Corruption Energy!] as that vampire baron that I defeated before. 30 seconds passed as the fight continued. A dozen houses and walls were already copsed as I slowly moved the ''fight'' towards the edge of the city, hoping to take into the forest where I can freely fight in case needs arise. "You sure are fast. Skilled even. I am going to increase my speed a bit. Try and see if you can dodge me now," that girl spoke with excitement in her eyes as she increased her speed even faster. Since I couldn''t match her speed cause she would notice that easily. I decided to show my desperate attempts to escape using illusion. Since it won''t be suspicious any more, let''s take her away from here towards the forest area. ''Well. It''s not like it is apletely hopeless situation either,'' I sighed as I followed my illusion and that girl, observing their rapid exchange. If she wanted to kill me, she would have done it without putting any thought to this charade. Even though I doubt I can defeat her, it was a good thing she wasn''t using all of her powers. Plus I can use my [Debug] skill to erase a huge amount of her power while getting bonus GM Points. Though I should be careful with how I deal with this situation. If I rush it, I might end up having a bounty on my head for a person capable of erasing that [Corruption Energy!]. As far as I have seen, everything thates directly from the [Game Master System!] is an anomaly for this world. Something that yers can''t even dream of having. While I was focusing on that illusion, I saw that girl stopping her punches before she stood there, while the illusion took a few steps away from her, maintaining a proper distance between the two. "Pfft~ hahahaha¡­. You actually were able to avoid it! Hahahaha! You truly are something!" That girlughed out loud with a bright smile as she looked at my illusion. She then continued speaking as she sat on one of the broken branches of the trees, "All right. A deal is a deal. Since you havested this long, I will let you in on a secret." She then took out a purple knife that gave off that dirty energy. My eyes narrowed at her, while she had a mysterious smile. She then asked, "Tell me Crowley. What do you think of the tower?" "¡­" I was quiet as I just stared at her. Observing my face, sheughed out a little before speaking,"you see," her eyes then turned serious as she continued,"it''s a prison. A confinement." "The tower binds you in a game that you will continue for the rest of your life. You might be thinking that with your skills, you might be able to get as high as possible, reaching the heights of your glory but¡­ it''s a foolish dream. Everyone has a limit on their body, their level. A point where they cannot move forward from." "You probably don''t understand but you see I am at least a hundred times stronger than what I have shown you. But I can never cross Floor 27. Do you know why? Because that''s a floor that restricts one''s physical skillspletely. And I, someone whose [Gift] and [Skills] are entirely based on physical abilities, can''t even cross that level on my own." Her eyes looked at a distant gaze, as if she was recalling something from a deep past before she gave out a deep sigh and then continued,"it''s not just me. A lot many people have been stopped because of the stupid rules that the tower sets for them. Fun fact, the highest floor someone has ever conquered is 79. We don''t even know what''s past them." She then stood up as she began walking towards my illusion. "Since I can''t break free of the limitations, I was lost, you know? I wanted to die. But then someone found me. A person whom I respect enough to give my life to. He showed me a way to break through the restrictions of the tower. To increase my power even more than I can do so." She walked around my illusion as she observed me from top to bottom. I was worried that she might notice something, hence I put extra efforts to perfect that illusion. Though given how she was simply smiling, I doubt she figured out anything. "It was corruption energy. It allows you to break certain parts of your system, increasing your stats and skills to whole another level. Sadly in my case, I couldn''t break free through the 27th Floor, but I was still able to be one of the strongest person in the entire tower." "Did you fail the test even with your new power?" I asked her. She shook her head before answering, "My gift doesn''t allow me to have anything other than physical skills. I even have a slot with an A-Grade Mana skill right now that I never used. It was a momentary happiness. But hey, you aren''t as unlucky as I am right? You can have this power and reach new heights." At first, I wanted to ask her what was the catch of having such a power. But somehow, I was more intrigued about something else. "Are [Gifts] fixed?" I asked. "Yeah. They are. In the final tutorial, the 10th one, you will get a chance to increase the grade of your tutorial but that''s it. Though don''t get your hopes up. In the entire tower, only 4 people were able to get to tutorial 10, and only 1 seeded in conquering it," she answered as she looked at my illusion. Using the [elerated Analysis!]I looked at her [Gift!] for a moment. [Gift: Edge of One''s Will Grade: Immortal Grade-10 Status: Corrupted (All effects multiplied by 10) Effects: -All Physical Skills Cooldown reduced to 0. -All Physical Skills will have their power increased by a factor of 100! -All Physical Skills will have their duration increased indefinitely! -All Physical Stats will be increased by 1000! -Allows the user to increase their maximum physical output by a factor of 1000! Restrictions: The user cannot use any skills or abilities other than those affecting her physical aspects!] ''A cheat skill that limits her mana potential, huh?'' I thought before looking at her with a deep look. "So. Would you like to have your power increased by at least 200%?" She asked me with a businesswoman-like smile. Though I was still in deep thinking as I answered her, "If I¡­ can help you get a mana based skill that you can use. What can you give me in return?" ¡­ [Location: About 100 kilometers away from the City where Adrian and Seat 11 were!] A woman in white dress was walking through the forest. Though rather than walking, she was mostly teleporting from one ce to another. Her eyes were curiously looking at everything around her. Her eyes could see dozens of kilometers around her and she can sense all forms of energies as far as 100 kilometers. She was Nora, the soul of the first floor, who just somehow ended up in the tutorial. Right now, she was sightseeing through the beautiful scenery around her. A happy smile was ever present on her face, as she looked at everything that was around her. "Huh? What''s that? That stench¡­ hmmm¡­ " she mumbled as she felt the dirty energying off from a ce far away from her. Though she didn''t like the feeling of that energy, she was curious to see what it was. A dozen wolves attacked her from behind as she stood there trying to feel from where the energy wasing from. Ignoring the wolves, she carefully pinpointed where the energy wasing from. Those wolves were just about to pound on her, until they suddenly paused and then got confused as if they forgot why they were there. Then turning around, they began running in a different direction from Nora. "Let''s see what is there," Nora spoke as she then teleported towards that direction. She was happy that she got to see so many sceneries, but she has yet toe across even a single living being she can talk to. Hence, she rushed towards that energy, hoping to find at least someone there. "It''s making me excited," she spoke with her smile blossoming even more than before. Chapter 86: [Pity of the Manaless!] Adrian''s POV!] "What did you say?" "I said that if I were to help you get a mana based skill. What will you give me in return?" I repeated my words. I calcted a couple of things here. First was that escape was near impossible. Even with everything in my arsenal, I don''t think I can out run her. I don''t know how she found me but if she can do it once, she can do it again. The second thing was that I didn''t feel like she was a bad person. I am not a person to judge someone based on feelings, but I don''t have much to go along with. The only thing I know about her is that she has a sad backstory, and she didn''t kill me despite having the power to do so. So the most obvious choice I got was to try and exploit her. If I can give her what she wants, then can I make her work for me? I don''t know but... it''s worth a try. "I just told you it''s impossible. Are you mocking me? Exin what you mean properly or else you will end up losing an arm or two," she spoke with her eyes turning serious. "My [Gift]. It allows me to make changes to my skills and items at the cost of ''usibility''. It''s not too much, but I was wondering if I could- She then reached close to my illusion as her eyes observed it with a deeper look. "Test it on me. I am allowing you to do so. Test your gift on me and see what you can do,"she spoke with a tone far more serious than before. I could see the desperation in her eyes as she looked at my illusion. Walking just beside her, I saw how much she was fixated on that. And I sighed before appearing in front of her. It''s a bad move but I guess we don''t have many options here. "Give me your hand," I spoke as I erased my illusion, making her eyes widen before she understood the situation. She then raised her hand towards me, and touching it, I tried looking at that particr skill that she had. [Skill: Mana Conversation! Grade: A Status: Cannot be used due to [Gift] restrictions! Effects: -Allows the user to convert 80% of her physical stats into Intelligence and Wisdom! -Allows the user to store 3 Mana Sub-skills that she can use at 50% power using the increased Intelligence and Wisdom! -The User''s Mana Regeneration is directly based upon Wisdom, regenerating 1MP per increased Wisdom Stat! -The User''s Mana Points are directly based upon Intelligence, increasing MP by 100 for every increased Intelligence Stat!] ''Fine skill she got there. Pretty much overpowered if you consider her [Gift],'' I thought before trying to type the changes that I wanted to make it to that skill. It wasn''t a question of ''if it will work'' since I was pretty sure it will. The question was ''how much?'' Since it''s gonna cost a lot to interfere with an [Immortal] grade gift. There were only two changes that I needed to make. One was to remove the restriction from the [Status] of the skill. And add another point saying that this skill can be used even with the [Gift!]. Though... [The Following changes will cost 173 Billion GM Points. Would you like to proceed?] I sighed as I was about to let go but her hopeful eyes made me pause. Then I thought about a second thing that was certainly possible. [Blessing: Pity of the Manaless! Grade: S Effects: -Allows the user to use [Mana Conversion!] skill as the sole Mana based skill without any restrictions of any form!] [Would you like to create the [Blessing!] for 70 Million Points?] I then let her hand go, as I looked at her with a deep look. "It''s a failure, isn''t'' it? Even the highest of the Gods said that I am doomed with this [Gift!]. There is nothing they can do about it," she was dejected. Even though she was threatening me before, she seemed to have calmed down a lot. "Well. I have good news and bad news," I spoke to her as I observed her face. Her eyes suddenly darted towards mine, confused.. a bit expectant. "Bad news is that I can''t change your skills. To be fair, I can but the usibility it costs is way too much that I have. Even if it takes years and decades, I don''t think I can have that much ''usibility'' to do so," I spoke, making her eyes widen again. The fact that it wasn''t impossible made her shocked to a wide extent. "So... you are saying that it is possible?" She asked and I nodded at her. "If I can, maybe, somehow increase my gift again, then I think I can reduce the usibility costs? Idk," I spoke as I shrugged my shoulders a little, making her hopeful again. "Well at least there is some hope," she smiled through her eyes, seeming to be rather sad right now. "As for the good news," I then continued, making her eyes widen as if asking ''wasn''t that the good news?'' But I just smiled and said," the good news is that my [Contractor] said that he can help you out." "Your... contractor? You are already Contracted to a God?" She was surprised to hear that. "Contracted? Yes. To a God? No. I think he is someone different from a God. There is that [???] on his name, so he could be above a God. Though I don''t know in detail, I am just specting," I answered her, making her even more shocked than before. "Anyways. He said that he can help you but he has a condition. He wants that [Corrupted Energy!] and to bestow his powers, he needs to form a contract with you. The conditions can be negotiated through me," I spoke to her. Most of it was bullshit. But hey, not everyday you get a chance to form a contract with a person with [Immortal] Gift. It would be a waste if I can''t get her in my control at all. I was worried that she might get angry with the mention of the contract since strong people don''t like to be bound under someone. But for some reason, she seemed to be considering my words right now. "Are you sure he can break this curse of mine?" She asked, and I nodded. She then gave it a bit more thought before speaking, "Ask him to send the contract. I will tell you my answer after that." Oh! This was surprisingly easy. Creating a contract wasn''t that hard. I already had a basic idea of what I should write in the contract. [Contract! Grade: Primordial Party A: [???] Party B: Enter your name and Mana signature! Conditions: -Party A will Give a Blessing to Party B, allowing them to use a Mana Based skill that their [Gift] can''t interfere with! -Party A can give [Skills] [Quests] and [Blessings!] to Party B -Party A can give [Curse] and [Punishments] to Party B in case Party B threatens the existence of Party A. -Party B will never harm Party A or any of the Contractee under Party A. -Party B will need toplete at least one Quest, once a Year for Party A. There will be additional rewards to Party B if theyplete the Quests! Restriction: It is a Permanent Contract and cannot be canceled!] I created the contract with two things in mind. One that the contract would look like it''s in the favor of the one getting contracted. Two that the main function of this contract is to secure a passive GM points source. ''I was wondering whom I should give the contract to. To think it would be given to someone I just met randomly. Anyways, there are only plus points to this, so I don''t mind it at all,'' I smiled as I told her the details of the contract. "Is that all? Doesn''t he want me to serve him or anything?" She asked skeptical of what she heard, but I shook my head before speaking," I don''t know. I just told you the contract." Did I make the contract too easy for her? It''s not a good thing. People get suspicious when things get too easy to get. "Hmmm. If that''s all then okay. It''s not even a contract to be fair. Just a deal... " she was still feeling skeptical about it. Though before passing the contract, I looked at the knife that was filled with [Corruption Energy!] "Can I have that dagger for a moment?" I asked, and she looked at that dagger for a few seconds. Not minding much, she then passed it on to me as she spoke," you said that he also wanted that [Corruption Energy] right? But it wasn''t in the contract." [Skill: Debug!] [You have purified an A-Grade Weapon coated with 50% Corrupted Energy!] [+3 Million GM Points Received!] Ignoring her shocked expression, I then looked at her before speaking,"that''s because of me. Actually, about that usibility? It increases everytime I fix something that is broken. For example this energy that I just purified." [Would you like to send a contract to Annabeth Percy Milliam for 1 Million points?!] And before she could speak anything, I sent her the contract. She paused for a few seconds, as she looked at me. Questions were filled in her eyes, as she wanted to ask a dozen of them. But then she looked at that [Contract!] in front of her. She kept observing that [Contract!], before thinking of something. I was wondering if she was going to ept that contract or not. But after a few seconds, I heard a crisp sound that made me smile. [Congrattions! Contract Sessful! Annabeth Percy Milliam has been contracted!] Chapter 87: [Origin!] [Congrattions! Contract Sessful! Annabeth Percy Milliam has been contracted!] [You have sessfully formed a contract with a being with [Immortal] Gift!] [+20,000 GM Points will be awarded!] [Noticing that the being has been cursed with [Corrupted Energy!]! Would you like to [Purify!] that energy?!] [The Purified Energy will either be Converted into Origin Energy or will be converted into 200 Million GM Points!] ''Hmmm? Origin Energy? Also... 200 Million, huh? Can''t I divide it into half?'' I thought and as if listening to my thoughts, the System gave me another message. [Would you like to convert 50% of the energy into 100 Million GM Points and 50% into Origin Energy?!] I looked at that girl, Annabeth with a deep look before pressing [Yes!]. Since she can''t harm me now, I don''t think I need to worry about anything. It''s not like a big deal... Is what I thought until I saw the changes in her body. The foul energy that wasing off from her, vanished in an instant as a strange form of energy appeared instead. I gulped, and so did she. Observing her own body, she looked at the strange energy in her body with a dazzled look. It was basically glowing golden right now before the light dimmed. Something was off about it... she felt... more powerful now? [elerated Analysis!] [Gift: Edge of One''s Will Grade: Immortal Grade-5 Status: Purified with Origin Energy (All effects multiplied by 20) Effects: -All Physical Skills Cooldown reduced to 0. -All Physical Skills will have their power increased by a factor of 200! -All Physical Skills will have their duration increased indefinitely! -All Physical Stats will be increased by 5000! -Allows the user to increase their maximum physical output by a factor of 1500! -Converts all Mana/Aura/Spirit/Ether based skills into Origin Based skills! Restrictions: The user cannot use any skills or abilities other than those affecting her physical aspects! (Exception: All Skills that use Origin Energy will be exempted from this restriction)!] ''Shit! This is totally out of script! And what the hell is Origin Energy? Why didn''t I get it when I was being corrupted by that Vampire?'' I thought as I read through the entire thing. It was unfair! Totally unfair! Wondering what are the changes that urred in her skills, I looked at her Mana based skill but... it wasn''t there. Except another skill was present in its ce. [Skill: Origin Formation! Grade: S Effects: -Allows the user to convert 50% of her physical stats into Intelligence and Wisdom! -Allows the user to store 5 Sub-skills that she can use at 200% power using the increased Intelligence and Wisdom! -The User''s Energy Regeneration is directly based upon Wisdom, regenerating 5 Energy per increased Wisdom Stat! -The User''s Energy Points are directly based upon Intelligence, increasing Origin Energy by 200 for every increased Intelligence Stat!] I gulped as I looked at the changes. All of her skills were upped by one, with she having 2 SS-Grade Skills and 3 S-Grade skills in her arsenal. Did I just evolve a monster? It was a good thing that she can''t harm me... or there was nothing that could have saved me. "What... is this?" She asked as she looked at those changes. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she looked in my direction for answers. All those changes were unbelievable... especially the fact that her [Gift] was upped by 5 Grades at once. Something she just told me that it was impossible. I then looked at my [Game Master System] before typing something using my thoughts as I sent a message to her. Since she was under my contract, I think I can send a message to her directly through the game master system. [Like it? Consider it a gift foring under my contract. This should solve your problems for the time being. Though can you help this guy in exchange? His [Gift] can affect the System directly and I would need him for something in the future] "Huh?" She then looked at the message that appeared in front of her. Reading it, she blinked a couple of times before turning to me. A bit shocked when she read what she read, but then she seemed like she understood the gist of the situation. Tightening her fist, she spoke out, "I will. Whoever you are. I owe you my life. You have rekindled the hope that was dead ages ago. I do not know what you are or who you are but... Thank you. Thank you for your kindness. I know the contract says that I need to do only one quest per year but... I will fulfill all that you give me." She then turned to me, as her eyes turned warm and she continued, "Thank you. Meeting you might have been a fate but, if not for your kind gesture, I might have never been able to get this opportunity." She bowed to me before speaking," Crowley. I will help you in whatever you need. Though I will need to go out from time to time to conquer the tower, for the most part, I will try to help you as much as you can. From now on, you can depend on me as much as you want to." ''This turned out much better than I expected. Now what shall I-'' "Such purity!" A voice came from a distance as I looked at the person standing there in a white dress. She was the same girl that was standing on the tower in the Safe Zone. I think her name was Nora, was it? I couldn''t sense her at all. "The Soul of the First Floor? Did she cross the rift?" Annabeth mumbled as she looked at Nora. ''Soul of the first floor?'' My interest piqued as I looked at Nora, while she kept staring at Annabeth with a deep look in her eyes. It''s as if she was fascinated by her. ''Huh?'' She then vanished. Before appearing right in front of Annabeth. rmed Annabeth was about to punch her but in the next second, she calmed down. No... more like... Annabeth was neutralized. "Such purity," Nora spoke again before turning to me. She smiled as she spoke, "You are the guy who was there on the tower that day? You have grown much stronger than before." Annabeth was silent. As if she was unable to make even a single move. Nora just chuckled as she answered, "Don''t worry. It''s just the tower''s strange way of protecting me. Anything that tries to harm me, gets [Turned Off] for a few minutes. Strange, isn''t it? Ah! Since you are a yer you will soon forget about me. Why am I even telling you this?" ''Will I? I don''t know,'' I just looked at her for a few seconds before asking, "Why would I forget?" "It''s the rule. It''s a way of the tower to make sure people can''t n against me. Though I believe there is a way to bypass that given a few do remember my name and my face. Just like this girl here. She was such a lovely child but looking at how she was ready to attack me, I think she doesn''t remember anything about the time we spent," she spoke with a hint of sadness in her eyes. "I will take my leave from here. I think your name was Crowley, right? I will remember that," she spoke as she began walking. "I wonder if I can get to eat an apple pie there," she mumbled to herself as she kept walking towards the city. As for me, I just stood there watching her until she vanished from there. "Hey! Why are you in a daze?" And Annabeth, who turned back to normal, observed me with a deep look. She was still happy with the changes in her system, and was pretty much smiling all the time. ''She really forgot, huh?'' I thought as I looked at her before asking something, "You said you would help me out, right? Is it all right if I ask you a few questions?" Let''s not focus on Nora, immediately. It seems like she was going to stay in the castle for sometime. So the next thing which I can do is ask about everything else that has been bugging me. "I don''t think I can answer everything but I will try my best to answer as much as I can," she spoke and I nodded before beginning to ask the first question, "How did you find me? Or how did you get to know about me?" ... [Location: First Floor!] "What do you mean you can''t find her?!!" ir shouted as loud as possible at her servants. Under usual circumstances, she would find Nora to help her out for any out of ce Anomalies urring within the First Floor. The constraints due to new yers, the strange corruption energy, the descendants of any higher being into the first floor. Most of the things were not something that ir could handle alone. Hence these were the times that she asked help from Nora, in exchange for spending time with her. The fact that she, being an Admin, had the exception of remembering Nora, helped a lot. ir was Nora''s only friend, whether she liked it or not. So Nora being absent was something that she didn''t understand from a logical point of view. ''Just where she could be? Do I need to search the entire First Floor manually?'' ir sighed as the work was already piling up. She didn''t like the fact that she was going to waste time all over again searching for Nora. "I am going to punish her by not talking to her for a decade!" She spoke as she began moving out of the Admin''s office. And rather than trying to find her, she decided to finish the job by herself. The difficulty might surely be up by a factor of 3 or even 4. But it wasn''t something that was impossible to do. "Just you wait, Nora. You are going to regret it," ir vowed as she moved towards the unexpected guests from the higher floors whom Nora should have been handling. Chapter 88: [The Truth Behind the Tower!] "How did I find you, huh? That would lead to a series of questions and I would need to go back quite a bit. How about we have a walk towards the castle and we start from the beginning of the story? It might take a bit, but it''s worth listening to," Annabeth spoke as she tried to recall a couple of things. With her finger on her chin as she looked up at the sky, she seemed to be smiling at something. "All right. Let''s go back then," I spoke as I began walking first. Even though I would have prefered sitting down and listening, I didn''t exactly mind walking either. She smiled at me before she walked along with me. Putting her hands at her back, she then started speaking about a story that goes as far as the tower existed. A story that was passed down through legends. Something that fascinated anyone who listened to the story. It was a story of a man who entered the tower first. The first [yer!], Adam Wesker. The guy whopleted it and left the tower in one try. It is said that he entered the tower on being called upon by the [Principle of Existence!], something that has been mentioned in the Legends multiple times. [The Principle of Guidance] was a book or a bundle of records that contained the hidden lores behind various heroes who were climbing the tower. It is usually revised by the Tower itself and helps fated adventures in times when they need it the most. Going back to Adam... Adam was a guy who helped everyone present in the tower. Every NPC that the tower created, every NPC that ever existed in the tower. Adam met them, helped them, solved their problem. From the basic tutorial, to the highest floor, not a single quest unturned, not a single thing was left out by him. He gained powers beyond people''s imaginations. He had artifacts that people didn''t even know existed in the tower. And with that hepleted the towerpletely. Not a single leaf unturned. Though he was gone, he left behind a legacy. The Legacy of the 7 heroes that will someday appear in the tower to conquer it. The ancient text on 57th floor mentions his words as, "Even though I will be the one to clear the tower first. To conquer it, it''s not my legacy. It is a note that I found on my way, so the least I can do is to inform all the NPCs and the yers that will appear in the future. That the tower will one day be cleared by 7 Heroes, 7 people who will wield powers beyond anyone''sprehension. And only then true freedom will be given to everyone that is present here." Annabeth spoke a bit enchanted by the words before she looked at me. "And how do you know that it''s just a fairy tale?" I asked and she continued, "The records of Adam are pretty much visible as soon as you cross the 10th Floor, so it is confirmed that he existed. You can ask any old NPCs and they will praise him for hours. In fact it is because of him that we know that there are only 100 Floors on the Tower. And also the Legacy of the 7 Heroes, that was also confirmed by anyone who crossed the 50th Floor. Not in a good way but well..." She turned silent as we kept walking. Even though I was interested in the story of Adam and the 7 Heroes, I wondered how it was connected to me. "The reason it was not in a good way, because the 7 heroes were chosen by the system randomly. And they weren''t just one. Every time one of them died another random [yer!] was selected by the [System!] to take his ce. This kind of started a war to find those heroes and kill them. Rather than promoting those heroes to win and conquer the tower, everyone wanted to have their power and change their destiny." "It was an ugly struggle of power. Thousands of people died in the upper floors, until those with [Immortal] or above gifts, got the title of the [Hero] with various blessings and skills. With their broken gifts,bined with the heroes authority and skills, they became someone who started ruling the entire tower, on their own. The worst? They had no intention of conquering the tower." "Various powers rose and died, trying to fight against them but they were destroyed because of the difference that the tower created. Though after years of struggle, a single organization was able to stand up against them. Fighting against the heroes as the [Viins] of this tower, a certain group consisting of [Immortal] gifts and above was born. They were called the Corrupted ones." "I am a part of the group of viins, the 11th Seat. And our leader, the 1st Seat, has a rather strange power that could interfere with the [Tower] itself. It can erase or corrupt people''s skills and gifts, or increase their power to a huge extent." "We have two goals. One is to kill those [Heroes] and find the ones who will actually conquer the tower. Second is to find an alternative, that is another way to get out of this tower. The first one is still out of reach, so we were trying to mess up the entire tower hoping to open a rift through the bottommost floor, the tutorial of the tower, and get outside of here." "Currently this is the second phase of the tutorial. And we were lucky to have created a rift to this world when the tutorial started. We are now trying to create another rift between this phase and the next. And finally to thest one that connects all the worlds together." "And as for your answer, the reason I found you was because you were on our list of people who were to be monitored. We couldn''t have you or anyone else disturbing our ns even by mistake. That is the reason I approached you. To try and see if you were worthy enough to join us, or it would be better to keep you in check so that you can''t disturb our n." She told me the story in detail as we reached the castle walls. Even though it was probably a big secret, she told me everything without hiding anything. She looked at me as we both paused our steps and then asked, "So Crowley. Is there anything else you want to ask?" "Your n to open the rift. Will it affect our [Tutorial]?" I asked as I was still hoping to take as much as I could from the tutorials. Though she shook her head as she answered, "To be honest. We don''t know. And honestly, we don''t care either. I can vouch to protect you since you are my benefactor in a way, but other than that I don''t think I can help you out with the changes that might ur to the Tutorial itself." Honestly that was a lot of information to digest. But I can understand where they wereing from. It was pretty clear from Annabeth''s expression. They were too tired of these constraints put upon them by the Tower. They wanted to break free as fast as possible. "How sure are you that you can get out of here if you can cross thest tutorial?" I asked as I wondered if their n was solid or were they just desperate. "Thest floor gives you an opportunity for you to choose a world of your own choosing, find a method toplete the quest given to you by the system and as a reward your [Gift!] increases based on the grade you get forpleting the quest." "Since we can choose any world we want, we believe we can all just choose our own world, create a rift that bypasses the rules of the tower and get out of here," she spoke as she pondered about something. ''A rift, huh?'' I thought as I recalled the boundary of the tutorial in the first tutorial. Will it be possible? Maybe. They were able to create a rift between this ce and the safe zone, after all. "Is that so? Will it be all right if I were to-" Suddenly a man, deeply injured and his body almost eaten from various ces appeared in front of us. "3?" Annabeth was shocked to see him in that state. "11! We messed up! We need to run!" That guy screamed with fear as he looked at Annabeth, shouting even more," we messed up badly! The n was a failure! We can never escape from this Hell! 11. We fucked up bad!!!" He shouted as he looked at Annabeth, crying as he barely kept himself together. "Calm down! 3! Tell me what happened? Tell me-" [Alert! Alert! Alert! Alert! Alert!] [A forced Rift has been created between the tutorial and the connecting World! The Externals Have found their way into the tower!] [Everything within the Tutorial will be erased as a Safety Measure!] [Erasing everything within the tutorial and sealing it offpletely!] "Huh?" Annabeth was rmed as she saw the system, while I narrowed my eyes at that guy who just appeared. His wounds weren''t bleeding but they weren''t healing either. They were simply chewed off as if from a non living thing. "It''s... Hiradale. My name is Hiradale. It was fun working with you 3," that guy spoke as he smiled with a pain filled expression. "What are you-" and Annabeth''s voice was thest thing that I heard before...plete darkness surrounded my eyes and I lost all my senses. It was cold. Did I... die? Chapter 89: [Rift!] [Item: Ring of Resurrection (S)!] [Ring of Resurrection Grade: S Status: Bound to the Owner! Effect: A One time Effect that would resurrect the User''s Body 10 minutes back in time! Activation Condition: Death!] [The Ring of Resurrection is activating!] It was an artifact that I got afterpleting that dungeon in the first tutorial. An artifact that allowed me to jump in dangerous situations and take risks at ces where I needed to bet my life on. I wanted to keep it on as long as possible. But I guess... [Sending the User''s body 10 minutes back in time!] My eyes opened up as I saw Annabeth exining about the 7 Heroes. She was going on a bit of a detail, but there was no time to waste. [Annabeth! Immediately take Crowley to 3. Hurry up or everyone in the tutorial will die! Hurry up fast!] I sent a message to Annebth, making her pause as she looked at the message. Reading it in a single second, she then was taken aback. A bit rmed, she looked at me before observing the message again. "What happened?" Even though my mind was in a mess because of what was about to happen, I acted as if I didn''t know anything. Though, I definitely needed to find the source of the problem. Sure, getting out of the tutorial was a solution too, but I didn''t want to risk the rewards that were going to define most of my and my friend''s future. "An emergency," Annabeth spoke as she held my hand before taking out a strange artifact from her bag. It was a ball shaped artifact with a purple hue, and activating it, the area around me began shining purple, until the scenery changed in a sh. "..." I slowly opened up my eyes as my vision adjusted to it. And what I saw was that we were in a never ending grasnd under the open blue sky. The scene of the mountains in the distance, with the wind brushing against my face gave off a nice feeling, but I couldn''t concentrate on it. "JUST WHAT ARE THESE?!! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! DIE! DIE! DIE!" That guy, Hiradale, whom Annabeth called 3, was panicking as he was frantically attacking some ck monsters that wereing out of a crack through space. "Huh? Who are you guys? No! Scratch that! Help us! We need to close that rift before the entire tutorial Copses!" A bulky ripped man, who was dozens of meters tall, spoke as he chanted some weird spells at that rift. The slowly expanding rift paused from increasing any further, but those monsters were stilling out of there. That guy, Hiradale. His attacks weren''t working at all, in fact they were getting absorbed by those beings, increasing their powers instead. -WHOOSH!!! -BOOOM!!!! And then Annabeth moved, punching those monsters as hard as she could sting those monsters in pieces. She didn''t need much instructions as she understood what she needed to do here. "11! You are here?!!!" Hiradale rxed a bit, though then his eyes looked at Annabeth''s hand that started to rot immediately. Annabeth looked at her hands with a narrowed gaze before I wondered what I should do. [elerated Analysis!] Let''s see. Beings that are not from the tower. Their power is to corrupt and eat the tower''s power? Something that corrodes the yers and eats away everything that the tower has. Even the areas where they stepped, the ce was corrupted giving a rotten stench. So the answer to this is... [You have used the Skill: Debug on your contractee Annabeth Percy Milliam!] Annabeth must have seen the notification, as her eyes widened for a moment, before her hand began healing. A wide smile appeared on her face as she looked at those monsters without fear now. Even that bulky man and Hiradale were surprised to see her arms healing like that. Though I was much happier than all of them. [You have purified the traces of a foreign entity: The Viruses!] [You have received 50,000 GM Points!] -WHOOSH! -BOOM!!! -WHOOSH!!! -BOOOM! X 3 [Skill: Debug!] [You have purified a foreign entity: The Virus!] [+1 Million GM Points!] ''Should I let them keep the portal open forever or something? It''s an unlimited GM Points glitch,'' Iughed on the inside as I kept in track of Annabeth who was killing all those entities one by one. But then I saw the cracks of the rift widening, slowly chipping away the tutorial. I wondered for a moment before I sighed. Too much greed would end up getting me killed here. This time for real. "Hold on for a few more seconds!" I spoke as I took a sprinting stance, preparing to dash with all my might. My words caught the attention of the duo who were standing and observing the situation. [Kic Mastery!] Gravity Adjusted. Momentum Adjusted. Muscle movements maximized. Changing the inertia a bit -Whoosh! I ran way, way faster than what others could have predicted. Even Annabeth, who had seen me ''fighting'' against her, was shocked to see me move that fast. Added with the fact that monsters were still in between, and I was crisscrossing around them, made them stupefied a bit. Reaching the front of the rift gate within moments, I saw those monsters pouring out, almost reaching me. Though, I simply looked at them with a sigh as I raised my hand forward and [Skill Debug!] [You have purified a foreign entity: The Virus!] [+2 Million GM Points Received!] [You have purified a foreign entity: The Virus!] [You have purified a foreign...!] [You have...] 100s of messages appeared as the monsters kept pouring out of that rift,ing at my hand, before getting erasedpletely. Honestly, it was raining points all over... [Noticing that User Has found a Rift in the tower! The Rift would consume the entire Tutorial area, harming the host and the tower itself! Advicing the user to close the rift by using the Skill: Debug!] ''Should I wait and let the pointse?'' I thought but then I saw that the cracks were rapidly increasing. Is that bulky guy losing energy? Well... whatever... [Skill: Debug!] [Activating the Hidden feature of the Debug: Virus Protection: Firewall Creation!] [Activating the Hidden feature of the Debug: Virus Protection: Antivirus creation!] White balls were created all around the area, as I observed the entire surrounding. All those monsters which were spreading out, escaping out of reach, vanished as soon as they touched those white balls. As for the rift itself, a literal burning wall of fire appeared protecting the area by stopping the monsters from entering here. ''The rift isn''t closing though?'' I thought as I saw the cracks were still spreading throughout the area. If nothing was done, everything would break just likest time. [Required Amount of GM Points Reached! The GM Points will be used to close the Rift!] ''Excuse me?'' My eyes widened as I saw all my precious GM Points being chipped off in an instant as they reached zero. I wanted to shout ''NO!!!'' But given the position I was in, I needed to keep concentrating at the rift or else the skill might break. While it wasn''t taking any physical efforts, mentally it was taxing. I can feel a strain in my ability to think as I saw that the rift was slowly healing from the corner. The pain increased the more I used that skill... and before I knew it... [elerated Analysis!] "AAAAAAA!!!!!!" I began shouting as much as I could as I focused on closing that rift. Time passed rather slowly, until everything around me turned white... I wonder if I was sessful? It was nk. Everything was nk. In an empty state of mind, I felt like floating in air. And then slowly my body was falling on the ground, as I regained a bit of my sensation. "Who is he?" "The guy I was tasked to find." So loud. It hurts my ears. "I am not asking that. How was he able to close that rift? And what is wrong with your powers? You seem... strange." "Wanna see something cooler?" "Huh? Is that mana?! Didn''t your [Gift] make it impossible for you to use Mana?" "Hehehe. It''s not mana but something far more better. Origin Energy!" "Origin... Energy... what''s that?" Can you guys stop talking? I want to sleep much longer. Damn this hurts! I was earning so many GM points. "I don''t know. I only know because of my skills and stuff. Seems like powerful stuff." "But how did you even get it?" My GM points... My GM Points... My GM... Points? "NOOOOOO!!!!!" I shouted as I woke up, finding myself in the same grasnd as before. My eyes looked at everything around me. There were the two bickering yers, Annabeth and Hiradale. Then there was that bulky guy who was observing me with a deep look. I could see fear and anxiety in his eyes. Other than them, there were two more people standing there. A young man dressed in golden white, and a beautiful woman wearing a ck dress. They seemed strangely powerful, like not in a way of strength, but it''s as if their existence was a bit different than the others. As I shouted, everyone''s eyes were fixated at me, while I nkly stared back at them. "Good morning, Kid. Good job on the rift," Annabeth gave me a thumbs up before that bulky man appeared closer to me as he spoke, "Excuse me. I am the Administrator of the Tutorials. If I may be polite, then can I ask you, who you are, Sir?" Though I couldn''t exactly answer him. And that was because of a System Message in front of me that caught my eyes. [You have prevented an issue that could threaten the existence of the Tower! Because of the excessive energy that the Game Master System collected! It has gone through a Minor Update!] [All the Privileges of the Game Master System have been revised and updated!] Chapter 90: [A Goddess’s Plead!] [All the Privileges of the Game Master System have been revised and updated!] [The following Privilege has been unlocked!] [Privilege 1: The Game Master can see All the Quests Present on the current Level without any hidden information about the current server and adjacent ones!] [Privilege 2: The Game Master can bet on the yers present in the current Level and other servers!] [Privilege 3: Allows the GameMaster to Adjust the rules of all things Equivalent to GM Points spent! As long as it does not break the boundaries of the tower, anything can be adjusted!] [Privilege 4: Allows the GameMaster to [Contract] a yer, NPC and general Floor Managers and give [Blessing!] [Skill!] [Title!] [Coins!] [Curses!] [Punishment!]. The Game master can also send public messages to those around the Contracted person.] [Privilege 5: Allows the GM to view all the quests of the next Event!] [Privilege 6: Allows the GM to Add any form of quest in the scenario as long as it''s not a main Quest!] [Skill: Debug! Grade: Primordial! Effects: Allows the user to remove any or all types of irregrities or bugs present within the system! The Game Master can create a firewall, anti-virus, trojan or other type of defense formation to deal with any threats! The user can also fix any form of breach that has ured to the system! Active Sub-Skills: Antiviral Protection: Creates mass of pure energy that wipes out any or all external Energy! Firewall protection: Create a wall of fire that blocks all foreign entities! Passive Sub-Skills: Complete Protection: No form of Foreign Body can interfere with your body!] [Item: Game Master''s Key! Grade: Primordial! Status: Bound to Adrian John Rodriguez! Effects: Once every 16 Hours, the Game master can unlock any locked item/door!] ''At least I didn''t make nothing out of this exchange,'' I thought as I looked at my GM points reaching 0. It hurt my feelings as I looked at the loss I just made out of this but I guess, there is little I can do about it. [GM Points: 0!] "Is he all right?" Hiradale spoke as he observed me with a narrowed gaze. Others were gazing at me with question-filled expressions as well before I turned to that bulky guy who asked a question before. "What were you asking? Sorry... I was just thinking of something,"I spoke as I focused on him, while he nodded at me and repeated again, "It''s all right. I was just saying that I am the Administrator of the Tutorial. As you can see, I came here because of that idiot creating a rift in the edge wall. Though I am ashamed to say that I wasn''t enough to close the rift. If not for you, the entire tutorial would have copsed. In fact, even I would have died by the end of this mess." "So firstly, I thank you for helping us prevent such a great tragedy. I am much indebted to you for that. And the second thing that I wanted to ask was, may I know who you are esteemed sir? I truly believe that you are not an average yer for you to be able to close that rift." He spoke in a respectful and formal manner, while the others were observing me with a keen expression. Except for Annabeth who knew a bit about the situation, the others seemed really curious about it. "I... that I don''t think I can easily exin. In a way, it wasn''t me but my contractor who was guiding me," I started with a proper lie, before I began sprouting whatever came to my mind," he bestowed me with a temporary skill and abit of a boost that allowed me to reach the rift and close it. I think it''s the same for that girl over there. She probably had the same skill." My head was still hurting a bit so spouting proper nonsense was difficult. Still I made sure not to mess anything up. Looking at the surprised yet understanding expression of those around, it seemed that they were believing it all. "You received a skill?!!!" Hiradale was surprised but Annabeth sighed before speaking,"it was a temporary one. I think it was too powerful to be bestowed as a permanent skill. I took a peek, the grade was something that I have never seen in my life. It said ''Primordial'' on it." ''She was able to take a look at the skill, huh? Interesting,'' I thought as I don''t remember giving her the skill. I was just lying, acting like I don''t know much about her situation and only guessing a bit here and there. "That''s... damn! Even the highest I have seen Ex Level skills that the leader has. Just who is this being you got contracted to?" Hiradale asked as he observed Annabeth with a jealous look. Fortunately she shook her head as she answered, "It shows question marks on his name. Hey, Crowley, since you have been contracted for a longer time, do you know anything about it?" For the first few seconds, I was going to go with ''I don''t know either,'' but then I thought of something. It might attract a bit of attention, but I can divert it as long as I can create a difference between Adrian and Crowley. "I don''t really know, but he seemed to be worried about the bnce of the tower. And given how talked about the system out of ce because of various disturbances, he seemed to be really important," I spoke making a bit of a big deal out of it. I thought about going with the [Game Master!] But given how weak I am right now, let''s not bite more than I can chew. "Seems like a Higher Admin? Or perhaps a Floor manager of one of the highest floors?" The Admin spoke as he began thinking. He seemed to be really serious about the situation while the duo Hiradale and Annabeth were a bit surprised. Though recalling the situation about the rift, they thought it made sense if it were someone with that much authority. "But I don''t think such people took interest in the lower floors, much less the tutorial. Could it be the Tower Master itself?" Annabeth began thinking but Hiradale shook his head as she informed us that, "I don''t think it''s him. Even though he is surely capable of doing that, did you guys forget? Tower Master can''t give contracts or quests to the yers? The Tower System makes sure that everything stays fair, so even Higher Admins have a limited authority of how much they can interfere with the yers. Why do you think the Heroes are reigning by themselves despite the existence of Admins?" This made them silent as the mystery of who that contractor is to have that much authority to even close the rift that an Admin can''t. "I wonder who he is," I said as I made a curious expression on my face. "Ummm... excuse me. What will happen to our world now?" A timid voice came from a distance as I saw the ck and white duo observing with a fear filled expression. It didn''t seem like they were afraid of us in particr. Annabeth looked at them and sighed, while Hiradale turned silent for a few seconds before speaking,"I don''t know. As you can see, creating a rift will only elerate the destruction of this world. We were able to open a rift towards the tutorial but that will also close by itself in a few months. I apologize... it seems we can''t do anything about it. Sorry for giving you false hope." The Admin was silent as he looked at the duo and spoke," We can take a bunch of dwellers and pass them into a rift towards the safe zone. But you both are Gods of this twin world. You are an entity connected to this world, so I don''t think we can help you with that." "But... but... are we supposed to die? Are we supposed to watch our crumble until there is nothing left!!!!" the woman in ck shouted at the admin, while that guy in white was observing me with a deep look. His eyes were waiting for me to speak, while I took a peek at the game master system. "ARE YOU GUYS TELLING US TO DIE???!!! JUST HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO ACCEPT THAT?!! THERE MUST BE SOMETHING! SOMETHING MUST BE POSSIBLE! RIGHT?! RIGHT?!" She then ran towards me, her eyes desperate, her hands were almost reaching me. -Bam!!! But the Admin, Annabeth and Hiradale stood in between, preventing her from reaching me. Even though they were sad too, none of them could do something about it. But that doesn''t mean they would let her harm me. "Boy! Please! I beg you! There has to be something right? Right? You even prevented the world from copsing right? Surely you could do something about our! We will give you anything you want! All the power! Everything! You can even have me! I will be forever your ve... just... please... please... save ours... I beg you... please save our home... aaaa... please..." She begged me as she got on her knees and put her head on the ground towards me. Her body was shaking as she tried her best to keep herself together. Her eyes were turning red, as ck tears came out of her eyes, while she kept crying... while she kept begging. It was the first time I was witnessing a God cry. A God that was begging. That guy in white sighed as he walked towards the girl and spoke,"Geira. Let''s go." He helped that girl, Geira, stand up as he supported her before he looked at us and spoke,"thank you for trying your best. Hope you have a happy journey in your life." As he was about to turn around, I began slowly standing up as I stretched a little. It''s not my ce to save this world. It''s not my ce to interfere where things don''t matter to me. But then again... Even if I don''t interfere. It''s not like I can''t guide others to do so. [It''s not like there is no way to save this world!] And I sent a message in front of the duo through the system. Making all of them widen their eyes towards that message. Meanwhile I looked at the contents of the quest which was previously [???] in the system. Perhaps the update of the system now allowed me to see through this as well. [Interference Quest!] [Quest: Alternate Ending! Grade: Ex Difficulty: Impossible! Description: The Twin World of Mirae is facing an extinction due to interference of the ending source of power of the cores! This urred because of over exhaustion of the cores, and has set the ending of the to stone! Objective: Find an alternate ending to the! Rewards: [Title: The One who defied Fate(Ex-Grade)!] Time Limit: 4 Months 17 days 12 Hours! ] Chapter 91: [Im-Possibilities?] [It''s not like there is no way to save this world!] "Contractor?" Annabeth asked as she looked at the message. Since I sent a public message through her, everyone should be able to see that. Even though it''s just a simple sentence, the message should stille as a shocking piece of information, given what I had just typed. The others also had their eyes widened as they looked at the message. Especially the duo in white and ck. The lost hope in their eyes was suddenly re-ignited as they patiently waited for another message toe. [Every Apocalypse has a reason to ur. Either it''s an invasion, or aary destruction due to some internal conflicts. All the worlds that have gone through Apocalypse are the same as this one. Under normal conditions, it''s just impossible to prevent it but...] "But?" This time the guy in white spoke as he looked at the message with a hopeful expression. [This particr world isn''t dying out of an invasion or an internal fight but due to the exhaustion of this world itself. Because of the dying core, the world is losing bnce and soon the twin world of Mirae will copse on their own. I think the twins have barely 4 months left now. But if you can somehow restore the cores and create a bnce between the two worlds, it''s not impossible. Though even that is easier said than done.] "Wait! Wait! Wait!" Hiradale spoke with a shocked expression as he asked what was going on in everyone''s mind here," doesn''t the tutorial mean that the world is already doomed? Like it''s against the rules of the tutorial if the world is saved?" [The Tutorial provides an equal chance for everyone, including the that is going through an apocalypse. While it is in the form of an impossible quest, anyone can save their if they have enough power to do so. The only reason Tutorial exists is so that it gives a chance for the weaker beings there to survive in an alternative way!] I said everything that I have deduced up until now. Based on the quests I had in the previous tutorial, based on the quests I have in the current tutorial, it never seemed like the tutorial had much to do with the apocalypse itself. Though they are still spections to be fair. ''At the least these things are true for this world. ording to thest quest, it isn''t impossible to save the world. Though the path to that is something that we need to create ourselves,'' I sighed as I looked at them. It was truly pitiful. Should I really give them hope when things are this hard? But then again... people would rather die trying than just give up and die. Still... If they asked any more questions, I might not be able to answer them. "So... what should we do?" The woman asked as she waited for more answers but I simply messaged them [That is for you to figure out. I can''t interfere more than this. Please understand.] When I sent this message, they turned silent before Annabeth spoke with a regret filled expression as she spoke, "So you''re telling me that the only reason we lost our was... because we were weak? How... pathetic." Hiradale had the same expression, while the Admin was staring in an empty space. It seemed he was thinking of something, before he suddenly asked, "I apologize if I may sound rude but... is there any way that us Admins... can be relieved of our duties. We have been doing it for millenials and yet there is no sign of ending. Is it possible... is there anyway?" Hmmm? Interesting question. [You do not have the Authority to Interfere the Current Commands! Increase your authority if you want to change the Status of Admin Balthazar!] ''So it is possible, huh?'' I thought before I tried one more thing. [Would you like to send a contract to [Admin: Balthazar of the Lost World Nirvana] for 20 Billion GM Points?] ''Aren''t you a bit too costly?'' I was taken aback as I looked at the cost required before sighing and then messaging one more time. [It is not impossible. But the 7 Heroes need to conquer the Tower first.] He seemed hopeful at first but then looking at the next sentence, his hope vanished as he sighed before speaking,"is that so? I guess, I expected that as much. Though given the current situation of Heroes it doesn''t seem possible in the near future." The conversation seemed to be drifting towards the 7 heroes and such. Plus about what Hiradale and Annabeth should do now, since their n basically failed when the rift didn''t take them to the next tutorial. "I will be staying here with this guy for the time being. You can go and inform the leader about everything that happened here. Even though it was a failure, at least we gained something far better than a false hope," Annabeth spoke as she smiled at me. Her eyes were twinkling a little, which made me question my decision to have her as my guardian a little. On another note, since we were done here, I too wanted to go and rx as well. Maybe I can send Annabeth back since there was nothing much to do here either? I mean, her killing stronger monsters in the upper floors would result in me having more GM Points. ''Let''s have her around for a week before we send her away. I do need a couple of back ups for the tutorial as well,'' though that made me wonder. How were we going to exit the tutorial this time? Will there be another portal? Hmmm... [elerated Analysis!] My mind ran at an insane speed as I tried thinking more and more about it. It was like an itch that I had to scratch. And the more I thought about it, the more it seemed possible. In fact, I think it would benefit me quite a bit. I can even make up for my lost GM points as well. I then turned off the skill before looking at Annabeth and Hisardale who were still talking about the various situations that led to here. Especially how Hisardale messed up with the rift, and how Annabeth easily got under a contract under an unknown being. My eyes also peeked at the god duo who were talking about the ways to save the. They were discussing various ways to restore the energy. Though the more they talked, the more they became hopeless since everything that they were telling was more absurd than the previous solution. And ignoring them, I then turned to the Admin as he was busy in his own thoughts. Moving close to him, I spoke the first word that came to my mind, "I think... I know a way to save the twos." ... [Location: Castle area where the Tutorial 5 began: Just outside the castle, in the garden!] In the castle, after Adrian left, everyone went on to sleep. Most of the yers fell asleep despite trying not to. The exhaustion of the entire day wore them down too much. Among the ones who were not asleep, they walked around the area checking everything out. Since the Castle Barrier was down, they were allowed to walk throughout the castle garden, which made them all pretty relieved. Though they were still cautious and didn''t enter the city during the night. Mostly afraid of unexpected dangers that might ur if they were to walk on their own in the dead of the night. "Are you kids lost? Why are you so scared?" A voice came from a woman in white as she walked towards a bunch of yers in the garden. At first rmed, the yers observed her with a cautious gaze, before they slowly calmed as they looked at that girl and wondered if she was an NPC. "We were just taking a break," one of the yers spoke as she observed the girl in white that seemed a bit ghostly. A bit beautiful too. The young men felt a bit shy as they approached the woman, hoping to initiate a conversation. "Is that so? That''s a nice thing to do. I do that too, many times. Rxes your mind," that girl smiled as she conversed with the boys. The atmosphere was merry as one of the yers asked, "What are you doing here at such an hour? Aren''t you scared something might happen to you?" "I was just looking to eat a strawberry pie. Do you know a ce where I can eat that? I didn''t find any shops that were open," a slight regret filled expression appeared on her face as she sighed. She truly wanted to eat that, while the yers began talking among themselves. "Do we have anyone among us that can cook? What about the servants of the castle?" "The servants were dead. And I don''t know anything else about that. As for cooking... ummm... I can''t think of anyone. Maybe someone among the female yers?" They began talking among themselves as Nora simply passed by them, leaving them to talk among themselves. It didn''t seem like the conversation was going anywhere, so she left to find someone who can make a strawberry pie. Or else, she can just find the kitchen and make one herself. "Though who wants to eat the strawberry pie?" One of the yers asked, as the others were confused. "Weren''t you the one who was asking about that? Or was it you?" "Eh? I don''t know. Why were we talking about strawberry pie, again?" And the existence of Nora was once again erased from the yers who had seen and talked to her. Chapter 92: [Haha! I was joking!] [Adrian''s POV!] "No! No! No! No! No! No! That is impossible! That is absolutely not possible! There is no way that''s¡­ that can be even allowed! Nope! I am not going to believe that! You can''t say something like that is possible! You can''t expect me to believe anything you said!" The admin spoke as he refused to believe what I just said. I tried exining things to him but looking at him reacting like that, I had to pause for a moment until he would calm down. My eyes then looked at others, and yes, they too were simrly surprised as the Admin. Just not reacting as much as he was. "Balthazar. Please behave like an Admin," Hiradale spoke to the Admin as he looked at me with a stupefied expression. Though it didn''t seem like the Admin heard him as he waspletely focused on me. "Why do you think it is not possible?" I asked as I saw him behaving a bit more ''normal'' now. Though as soon as I asked that question, his reaction became frantic again. "Not Possible? There are a dozen things that don''t make sense! Kid, answer me! Firstly, how are you going to create a permanent path between the two ces? It''s not something that even the strongest of beings were capable of doing! Connecting the Tutorial and the Safe Zone of the first floor? Are you trying to copse the tower itself? Nope. That''s not possible at all!" It was true in a way. Under normal circumstances, the impact of destruction of the tutorial would harm the first floor itself. But we are bypassing it by multiple steps here. "Crowley. Why do you think it is possible?" Annabeth, who was trying to reason with me, asked as she observed my face. Even though she didn''t seem like she was believing in me, she was still trying to understand my point of view. I smiled as I was d that at least there were some people who were ready to listen to me. Otherwise, convincing them would be as hard as conversing with a rockwall. "You said that there is a rift between the two ces, right? Then that means that people can alreadye and go without creating any disturbances to the other ce. I think with my [Gift!] and with the help of my contractor, I can easily make that rift permanent without much problem. It should be doable," I said as it wasn''t totally impossible to do that. Since my [Game Master System] can influence almost everything, I think it''s not that hard. Just a bit costly¡­ or maybe a lot. But if I can just make something out of the monsters here and the corrupt energy from that rift itself, then I think it should be feasible. They listened to me, they turned silent. The Two Gods who were listening to the entire thing were having mixed emotions about this. Perhaps they wanted to believe me but it was too absurd for them to believe it? Plus me being a 17 years old newbie wasn''t exactly helping the situation either. "Even if you do that, that doesn''t mean that the world will stop from copsing. The damage could spread to the first floor as well," Hiradale spoke as he observed my face. He wasn''t looking down at me unlike others, but rather was observing me with an interested gaze. ''I think he was the Seat 3 of the corrupted ones? Does that mean he is the third strongest among the group?'' I thought as I wondered if I could convince him, then convincing others would be a cake walk. But on second thought, I didn''t do it. Depending upon others wasn''t something that I liked. Let''s just give him a proper answer for now. "That is why I am going to connect the soul of this, that is the gods duo, to the soul of the first floor. In a way, I am going to use their powers and cut their connection with the before connecting it with Nora. I think if I upgrade my [Gift], it will allow me to do that," I spoke again, making them shocked. They all looked at me like I was a lunatic before the Admin asked, "Wait! Wait! Wait! What do you mean by [Upgrade]? And just what in the hell is your [Gift] about? I heard from 11 that it can bypass the system but just how absurd is it to allow you to create a pathway between the two areas?!!!" I pondered how to answer that. I have already told Alice and Mark that I have a map rted [Gift]. But that won''t work here. So, I would need to say something that sounds like it allows me to mess with the system itself. ''Plus I would need to maintain the difference between Crowley and Adrian, too. Let''s see if we can create two identities,'' I sighed on the inside as all these unnecessary steps were exhausting really. But still¡­ I need to do it if I need to create a life where I can live freely. "Its name is [Modifier] and it''s a [Growth] type of gift. When I got it at the beginning, it was merely a [Lower Mortal Grade-10] but now it''s [Mortal Grade-4]. I can''t do much now, but with time I am hoping to get [Upper Mortal Grade] or even [Heavenly Grade]. That way, I think I can do at least that much," I spoke, making all of them observe me with a beyond shocked expression. ''Huh? Did I say something wrong?'' I think this was the first time I saw them this shocked. "A¡­ growth type¡­ gift?" Hiradale''s smile broke and even he couldn''t believe what he just heard. While Annabeth''s eyes were bbergasted, as for the Admin, he was too shocked to speak anything. "I have never heard of¡­ such a thing¡­ doesn''t that mean¡­" Annabeth spoke out slowly and the Admin finished her sentence, "It can go to the heights of all the [Gifts], possible? Like beyond what everyone has, reaching the peak of the peak? In my entire life of being an Admin, I have never seen or heard of something so ridiculous." Hearing their words, I was shocked as well. Not because I had such a rare type of [Gift], I already have something far beyond, that they can''t even imagine. I was shocked because I realized that I made such a big mistake. No. Let''s calm down. Hopefully it''s not as bad as they are making out of it right? There has to be a few people with these types of gifts, right? "Are growth types [Gift] that rare?" "Rare? Haha. Crowley¡­ kid. It doesn''t exist. Nobody in the entire tower has a gift that can grow. Didn''t I tell you? It''s fixed. You are probably the only one¡­ with such a ridiculous gift. No wonder such a powerful being was interested in you," Annabeth spoke in sudden realisation, making me shocked. ''Damn, I really overdid it with the [Growth Type], huh? I thought they would be rare but to not exist,'' I clicked my tongue on the inside as I realized my mistake. There was no going back now. ''Haha I was joking'' wasn''t gonna correct this mistake. Hearing her words, the others nodded as well. I guess it would make sense for a powerful person to take interest in a person who has a ''special'' growth type gift that can mess with the system? Does it make sense? Probably¡­ I don''t know. It surely sounds like it does. "Kid. Don''t tell anyone else about your gift ever. While most won''t be able to do much to you here, but on the higher floors if anyone gets to know about your gift, or even if the fact that it can grow, your life would be in too much danger," Hiradale warned me as he looked at me with a jealous gaze. Though he didn''t seem to be having any ill intentions towards me. "Ah! The Heroes. Those bastards won''t like a potential threat, huh?" Annabeth spoke out as she realized Hiradale''s words, while the Admin nodded at them. Though he then looked at me with a slight hope as he asked, "I guess, one is never too old to see some miracles, huh? Anyways kid, hide your powers as much as you can. See if you can pick an alternate weapon or something. Though before that," He then paused for a brief moment as he looked at the hopeful duo gods standing at a distance before he continued, ing back to the main topic, let''s assume that what you said is true. How are we still going to find the Soul of the First floor? How are you going to convince her toe here? You probably don''t know the rules around the soul of the first floor, do you? They are ridiculous, I must say." He was about to exin the rules but interrupting him, I spoke out first, "I know. The fact that everyone forgets about her as soon as she leaves their sight. The fact that no one can harm her and such," I understood the concern that he was pointing it out. "Did your contractor tell you that?" The Admin nodded as he seemed to be misunderstanding something. His eyes were observing me, while he, with his hand rubbing his chin, seemed to be thinking of something deep. Though I corrected him as I spoke, "Nope. I saw her. She was in the Tutorial. And yeah, somehow those rules don''t affect me." "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" Chapter 93: [Trust!] [Adrian''s POV!] The five of them observed me for a few seconds. It seemed they wanted to say something but didn''t have proper words to speak. "Kid¡­ I.. uh¡­ nothing," Annabeth tried but then turned quiet as simply looked at me. The others were also the same as her. Though after a few moments, the first one to speak was the Admin. "I don''t know what to say." He seemed rather tired with all the surprises he was getting today. He raised both his hands, as if giving up on this whole thing, before a chuckle escaped his mouth. His eyes turned to me with a refreshing look as he spoke, "All right. I guess I will hear you out. But I have a small condition." I tilted my head a bit, curious as I waited for him to continue speaking. Not wasting much time, he continued, "Wait until the tutorial reaches the end. We still have a few more months, and we also heard from that [Contractor] that the way to save the is to revive its energy. So, I will try working with the Gods and see if we can figure it out somehow. If everything fails, then we will proceed with your n. Meanwhile, you can also use this time to convince that soul of the first floor. Though be careful, it might get tricky since even I don''t know how the personality of that soul of the first floor is." I nodded at him with a smile as I spoke,"I will," before I turned to Annabeth as I pondered about something before asking,"what do you think about it? Got anything to add or subtract?" "Hmm?" She came out of her stupor as well, as she then sighed before thinking about the entire thing that I had told her. Then reaching a conclusion, she turned at me as she spoke, "Well. Given you are the only one here who can talk to the soul of the first floor, I will leave my decision based on what she says or what she doesn''t. Until then, I will just observe." ''That''s fine by me. Though I would like her to go up the floors and hunt more GM Points more, I think having her by my side for the next few days would be better,'' I pondered the pros and the cons of her staying by my side. I guess it was more or less favorable for me? "I will go and inform the leader about what happened here. If possible, I will bring 2 and 4 here as well. They can probably help," Hiradale spoke as he nodded before vanishing from here. I wanted to ask a couple of questions, but since they weren''t exactly urgent, I decided to wait until the next time I see him. "Should wee with you?" The man in white asked as he observed me. His eyes were shaking a bit, perhaps from excitement? Or perhaps he was afraid that his world was going to be destroyed? I can''t tell. "Just observe us, until I call you," I told them and they both nodded before bowing to me as they spoke,"then we will leave the fate of our in your hands. Please¡­ try your best." I will. They both vanished from there as well, and I looked at the only other guy that was present here. Since he didn''t go with the Gods, I guess he must have decided toe with us. "I wille with you to observe a little. I want to confirm with my own eyes that the soul of the first floor is really on the tutorial or not," the Admin spoke as I observed his face before I nodded. "Sure. Let''s go," I spoke as I turned to Annabeth who took out a simr artifact as before. I guess it''s finally time to get involved with Nora as well. ¡­ [The Tutorial''s Admin''s POV!] In this long life of mine, I have seen many things. I have seen the worlds being copsed and legends taking birth. I have seen the worst of what a race can do, and the best of what is possible. All in the beginning of this tower, in this tutorial, where I was bound from the day of my birth. ''It certainly is a suffocating ce,'' I sighed as I looked at that guy, Crowley, a being who was preparing to challenge the very existence of the tutorial itself. Perhaps he could be the key to change that the entire tutorial desires? To help us break free from these chains that shackles us? Honestly it was absurd to even think about it. ''Should I really put my hopes on him?'' I thought as I have seen many legends in my life. He was neither as strong as them, nor he had the power to challenge even the beings of Floor 20. Yet¡­ somehow, he was so confident about it. It''s as if he already knew everything that was going to happen. ''Just who are you?'' I questioned in my mind as I observed him. This ursed fate of mine where I witness the ends of the world, over and over again. For centuries and centuries, I questioned my purpose, my freedom. Why should I be the one to be bound with these rules? Will I ever¡­ catch a break? I wasn''t allowed to walk into the tower that was present in front of me. Everytime the yers got into the tower, I was jealous of them. I wondered if I could get into the tower as well? But the rules didn''t let me go even to the first floor. Neither I can get out nor I can get in. Stuck in between the two ces, all I could do was follow the duty that was ced¡­ no, forced upon me by someone whom I don''t even know. I don''t want that¡­ I want to die¡­ why¡­ just why¡­ Why could I neither die nor live in this ursed ce? I hated everything about here¡­ ''Is there really no end to this madness?'' That''s what I thought when I saw the monstersing out of that rift. I thought perhaps I could die, but then I saw that those monsters weren''t killing me but corrupting me. It was the same as living in pain for the rest of my life, a fate worse than death. And then he came, saving me and the tutorial from a never ending cycle of pain and destruction. "I will transfer us back to the same ce where we came from," Seat 3 of the corrupted spoke, as she activated her artifact, teleporting us back to another ce on the of Darkness. Observing the calm expression of the boy who was now walking with a rxed look on his face, I wondered again, ''Can I really put my trust into him?'' Deep in my heart when he said that he wanted to connect the safe zone with the tutorial, it made my heart happy? Can I really find a path towards the upper floors? Is there really a chance? But I can''t be sure about it. Not yet¡­ so for now, I will simply observe. And silently pray that everything he said turns out to be true. ¡­ [Hiradale''s POV!] "I must reach them faster. This is big! I must tell the leader!" I spoke out loud as I kept activating my spatial spell one after another. Even though it was one of my basic spells, because of my [Gift] it was powerful enough to bepared with those of the highest degree. My [Gift: Book of Perfection!] was a mythical grade that allowed me to weave any spell types of a spell that I have used and bring it to at least 3 Grades up. So, if I have a control type spell, like Necromancy, I can use all the spells rted to Necromancy to at least 3 Grades up to what I have used. Using the most powerful spatial spell, I jumped from one floor to another as fast as I could. With the help of [Corruption Energy] I could even bypass a couple of floors, enhancing my speed even more. And while it still took about 10 minutes, I reached the 46th floor much faster than anyone else could have done. The 46th floor was a dead area where the nts were withering, and barely any signs of life normally are present here. The sky is dark, always covered with dark clouds, and it rains almost 24 hours here with barely any sunlight. One could even confuse it with a cemetery if not for the current situation in front of me. ''Where could be the leader?'' I questioned as I looked around the area as fast as I reached the 46th Floor. An army was present in front of me, as they were preparing for a war that was about to happen in the next few days. While I and 11 were trying our luck in the tutorial, the others were preparing to fight and kill one of the heroes on the 57th Floor. "Ah! It''s you! No wonder your energy felt familiar," a feminine voice sounded from my left as I saw a white haired girl standing a bit away from me. She was wearing a white one piece dress that reached a bit above her knees. Carrying a wooden staff in her hand, she looked at me a bit confused, "What are you doing here, 3? Is everything all right?" She was the Seat 5 of our group. One of the spatial dragonic mages, who had perfected their sense of space. Her special heterochromatic purple and yellow eyes observed me from top to bottom as she checked for my condition. I let her do that, since it would be better that way. It was one of the rules of our group that allowed us to survive this far despite antagonizing a force that could shake the entire tower itself. Once she confirmed her assessment, her expression turned normal, and she sighed in relief as she smiled at me. She then pondered something before speaking, "Should I ask you the questions right now? Or it would be better to take you to the leader? Looking at your expression it seems to be thetter." She was smart enough to understand the situation, and I was thankful for that. I nodded at her before speaking, "Take me to the leader, please." She chanted a spell, and the entire area was filled with dense gray mana. And before I knew it, the surroundings changed and I found myself in a room filled with at least 2 dozen people sitting in a circle. And at one of the corners of the circles, on a seat that was a bit more bigger than the others, there sat a man, one of the extreme few who had the [Beyond Mythical!] grade of gift in the tutorial. He was our leader, Seat 1. "3? Why are you here?" He asked as he looked at me, a bit surprised. "It would be better¡­ if we can talk in private," I said as I looked at all the people here. There were many aristocrats from the higher floors, and many powerful NPCs including a few Admins as well, but despite that I must ry what happened in the tutorial to the leader. It was of that much importance. "Everyone except 2, 4 and 5. Please leave," leader asked politely as he looked at everyone present here. The people didn''t seem to like the fact they have to leave despite their high status. Narrowing their eyes at me, they even seemed to have mixed emotions regarding my sudden entrance. Though they didn''t make a fuss and simply walked out on their own. And once they were gone I saw the leader''s expression changing before he started walking towards me with a concerned look on his face as he asked, "What happened?" And I sighed before I nodded and said,"you might wanna sit down for this one." Chapter 94: [Change that is about to come!] [Hiradale''s POV Continued!] "And now they are going to talk to the soul of the first floor who is wandering in the tutorial." Exining everything from the start to the end without missing even a single piece of information, I finished my story before looking at the faces of all those around me. "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" And as much as I had expected, they were too surprised to speak at all. I could see the doubt in their eyes, having difficulty in believing what I just said, but given how 2 had a permanent lie detection on, I don''t think I would have to prove my credibility here. The golden haired man, with a horizontal deep scar on his left cheek, looked at me with his azure blue eyes that had a purple hue in them. Wearing silver gold armor under that zing white fur coat, he sat there, pondering what I just spoke. And then looking at the snowy white-blue haired girl beside him, he asked for confirmation. Seat 2 was a snow elf, her skin as white as snow, she was once a queen of her tribe. Her characteristic ck red pupil over her ck cornea was a proof of her royalty. Though because the apocalypse came a bit too early for her, she wasn''t able to awaken her bloodline abilities and could only show the basic abilities of a high elf. Still that doesn''t mean she was weak by any means. "He¡­ isn''t lying," she answered as she looked at me with a shocked expression. The other gasped a little as they heard 2''s words, before they observed her as if wondering if her skill was working or not. Though, on second thought, they realized that it was a stupid question, but that only made them feel more ridiculous about the words that I spoke. "He isn''t under any spells either," the one who spoke was 4, narrowing her eyes even more, trying to see more into my mana, trying to find any form of disturbance possible. But the more she couldn''t find it, the more agitated she became. Seat 4 had ck short hairs that reached upto her shoulders, while her characteristic golden eyes were something her race took pride in. Wearing a ck cloak with the symbol of [Corrupted Ones], she had most of her body covered. Except for the leader, I don''t think anyone has seen her body in the entire tutorial. Seat 4 was from an ancient race of Seers that came from a higher world. When the apocalypse appeared in their world, they were thest race remaining with only 3 beings surviving the first tutorial. Though those 3, including her, are one of the strongest people present in this tower right now. "Could it be a spell that even I can''t detect?" She added as she began pondering but, the leader interrupted as he spoke, "I don''t think so. If his system status says that he is fine, then he must be. But that also means that everything he said was true. Not including the part where that kid can make changes to the system, the fact that 11 can use mana is already something we need to look into. We can easily check whether his gift is growth type or not when we meet him, but right now what takes priority is the n that he has suggested. To save a dying from the apocalypse¡­ Do you think it''s possible?" Seat 2, paused her thoughts for a moment before turning to me as she asked,"what do you think about that 3? Since you saw everything with your own eyes, what are your thoughts on the matter?" "It''s ridiculous to even think about it," I spoke honestly, making her sigh before I added,"just like the fact he closed the rift, and the fact that 11 can use mana now. Everything he has said or done is ridiculous." Their eyes looked at me for a few seconds before the leader gave his words, "All right. 3, 5. Stay here and handle the things. Call 7 and 8 as well, ask them to manage the things here. 2, 4. You areing with me. Prepare a portal directly to the first floor, I am going to meet that kid personally." And we all nodded at his words, before we moved on with our own work. A change to the tower was going toe soon. And I personally think it''s going to shake the tower from its core this time. My heartbeat was racing for the storm that was about toe¡­ Things are about to get interesting again. ¡­ [Arian''s POV!] Walking towards the castle alone, I looked at the yers around me taking a look at the castle garden, enjoying the view of the night. I asked the Admin and Annabeth to keep a distance and keep themselves hidden. I am not exactly the type to attract attention, so I would rather do things without anyone knowing. Looking at the map, where a pink coloured dot was present, I wondered if she was the same as the corrupt ones. Though on second thought, I didn''t feel the dirty energying off from her as the ones with the corrupt energy. Also, their color was deep purple to ckish purple inparison to the normal pink that I was looking at on the map. My steps took me into the castle, in the left wing, near the kitchen. It kind of made me wonder what she was doing there, though the answer became obvious as I saw her trying to look something in the closets, hoping to find some ingredients. ''She was talking about making a strawberry pie, right? Is she going to do it herself?'' I thought as I saw Nora searching from one cupboard to another, while I walked closer to her. Hearing my footsteps, her eyes turned to me with a slight surprise. The previous bored eyes were now filled with a bit of joy as she observed me before speaking,"Oh! It''s you again!" She then moved closer to me, walking barefoot, as she hoped for a few steps like a little girl. Her eyes observed me with the same smile as she spoke, "Do you know where the strawberries and the cornstarch are?" She asked with a slight excitement as she looked at me. ''So she really was making a strawberry pie, huh?'' I observed her as a smile appeared on my face. "Making a strawberry pie?" I asked and she was surprised," yeah. I can''t seem to find the ingredients." She made a rather exhausted expression, as she seemed to be getting annoyed with all these searches and stuff. Though I doubt she would find it given there was not a single ingredient present in the kitchen, and that which was present was mostly rotten. I looked at the map, at the other kitchen in the castle, but the result was the same. Perhaps they were getting food from somewhere else? I mean, the portal could be a viable option. ''Anyways, making a strawberry pie, huh?'' I thought before looking at my inventory. I think I bought a lot of ingredients with me hoping to use my [Perfect Cooking!] somewhere in this tutorial. I always wondered what it would feel like to camp and cook. Though perhaps as it may be, the first time I will be using the skill isn''t in the wilderness but in a castle''s kitchen. "The castle doesn''t have any ingredients," I spoke as a dejected expression appeared on her face before I smiled and continued,"but I guess you are lucky." "Huh?" She then looked at me surprised as I took out 2 packets of strawberries and a bunch of other stuff that would be necessary to make it. Her eyes widened before they glistened as they looked at the ingredients with a happy smile on her face. The saliva was already dripping out of her mouth before I took a step back. Wiping her saliva immediately, she looked at me with a hopeful expression asking,"can I¡­ have those ingredients?" "I don''t like people touching my ingredients though¡­ How about I cook you a strawberry pie instead? Though it won''t exactly be for free," I spoke to her making her widen her eyes before she apologized, "Ah! I am sorry but I already have a husband. I don''t think I would do anything indecent with you." ''Do I look that shady to her?'' I was feeling awkward a little before I answered, "It''s not that. I just want to hear your story. Is it alright with you?" She looked at me with a surprise before her eyes dulled again. She smiled at me before speaking, "I can tell you everything you want. But it won''t be exactly fair with you. I don''t think you understand but you will forget everything that happened so¡­ I don''t know. I can maybe pay you with points instead?" I sighed as I understood her point of view. Though I was still surprised to see that she is honest and fair. She had theplete chance of taking advantage of me, yet she was just with her decision. Well, this also made me happy. At the very least, I can put a little bit of trust in her as well. Much better than her backstabbing me or lying to meter. "It''s all right, Nora. I was just surprised to see you sad back at the tower. It made me curious about your life, that''s all. I can make a strawberry pie for free, don''t worry about it. Though can we still be friends?" I smiled as I looked at her, while she answered, "Thank you for understanding my situation, I know-" and then she realized something was wrong with what I said. And she looked at me with her eyes widening enough to almost make them fall off. "What did you just say?!!" Chapter 95: [An Old Story!] "-_-" Her eyes were constantly gazing at me, as I slowly cooked the pie. I was mostly done, but with her eyes staring at me so intently, I was feeling chills all over my body. "Can you please stop staring like that?" I finally asked as my patience ran out, while I continued with the cooking. The pie was basically ready and I just needed to serve it now, though I decided to cut it into 6 pieces before giving her 3. "How can I not? What you have said is basically absurd. Something like that shouldn''t even exist to begin with," she spoke as she observed me. It would have looked pretty serious if not for that idiotic smile on her face. "Well. It''s not like there is anything of loss for you as well," I spoke as I passed on 3 pieces of pie to her. It was a bit hot, so I changed my [Energy] into [Ice Mana], before using it to cool the pie down. "Thank you," she thanked me and then ate a piece of the pie with that same stupid smile on her face. "Nom nom¡­ I know that¡­ nom nom¡­ mmh it''s good¡­ but it doesn''t seem¡­ nom nom¡­ ah! The perfect strawberry pie¡­ like it is possible¡­ nom nom¡­ tasty-" -Bam! "Either eat or talk orpliment the food. Don''t do it all at once," I stuck her head, making her look at me with an intent gaze. Looking at how she was rubbing her head with a joyous expression, it made me wonder if she was macho or something. And thinking that I slid my chair a few steps away from her. "You can even hit me¡­ seriously. I guess, you really aren''t bound by the system, huh?" She spoke as she curiously observed me for a few seconds before she looked at the pie,"ah! It''s getting cold!" And then she began eating it once again. I could almost bet that she was more worried about that pie than me right now. "Are you really¡­ nom nom¡­ mmhh¡­ going to connect the tutorial and the safe zone?" She spoke as she looked at me with a doubtful gaze as continued,"I don''t think I can trust you that much, you know?" I passed 2 of the three pieces of my pie towards her. "Maybe I can trust you, but will it work?" Her attitude changed once again as I sighed. Well, at least it was going in a positive direction? Though before I can decide what to say, she spoke again, this time her voice a bit more serious than before, "All right. I will help you out. I don''t think I have anything worth losing in what you are trying, in fact I can gain another ce where I can visit from time to time." Even though there was a smile present on her face, her eyes¡­ They looked rather sad. Lonely a little. "What is it? Does something bother you? It would be better if I have all your doubts cleared or else there could be unnecessaryplicationster. In case you have a change of heart, you know?" I spoke as I took a bite from the strawberry pie piece that I had. She had two strawberry pies in each hand, and another one was in her mouth as she was gulping it down. Though her eyes were focused on the one that I was eating. Finishing the one in her mouth, she then spoke, "It''s not that. Honestly, I don''t care much about it really. I am helping you out cause it seems fun. The worst that can happen is die, which is honestly still better in my opinion. It''s just that¡­ my husband. I wish he could see this beautiful world with me. He loved the thought of adventuring but¡­ " She then put down the strawberry pie, while a sigh escaped her mouth. Looking at her making that expression, I couldn''t help but get curious, "What happened to your husband?" "Hmmm¡­ well, it''s a very old story but a long time ago there was another admin of the first floor. Being the soul of the first floor, he was the only one who could see me, and perhaps he was the only one there with me. Living with him for a long time, obviously we fell in love, even got married," she spoke as she exined her story a bit. Her eyes gazed distantly in the empty space, same as the time when I found her at the central tower. "Then one random day, there was a system message that he was promoted to the 46th Floor. And without any warning, any words, he was just teleported to that floor. A new admin, ir, took her ce and exined a few things to me on how the Admin on that floor was imprisoned by the tower for something he did, and how the tower has promoted the First Floor''s admin to that floor." "I can''t leave the first floor. And the Admins of Floor 40 to 60, can''t goe below 40 or go above 60. Though what was worse, I heard that all his memories of me were erased, making him go insane and throwing the entire floor into chaos. That is all I know¡­" A silence covered the entire area as I looked at her taking a deep sigh. I could see a couple of tears escaping her eyes, while I wondered what I should say next. "The 46th Floor Admin, Novak. He has currently locked himself up in his castle," and a voice appeared from a distance as three people appeared within the kitchen. A man and two women that had the worst stench of that corrupted energy that I had seen up until now. Though despite having that stench, I can sense that they were strong. Far far stronger than anyone I have met up until this point in the tower. As I was wondering who they were, I saw Annabeth and the Admin, Balthazar, walking behind them, observing us with a saddened expression. ''Were they listening to the story?'' I questioned as they walked closer to me and Nora. Nora had her eyes narrowed at them, a bit varied and a bit cautious. If I were to guess who they were then, probably the people from the [Corrupted Ones]? They were here faster than I thought. ''It hasn''t even been an hour, has it?'' I guess I underestimated them. "You must be the Soul of the First Floor," that man spoke as he politely bowed before speaking,"I apologize for causing problems for you. As forpensation, I can tell you about your husband. I am from the 46th Floor, after all." Though he was speaking to Nora, his eyes were peeking at me from the corner of his eyes. Even the two girls beside him were constantly gazing at me, as if I were a zoo animal or something. A mix of surprise and shock was apparent on their expression, while I simply looked at Annabeth with a question filled gaze. "My husband? How is he?" Hearing his words, Nora''s defense was down as a hurting look appeared on her face. She felt rather desperate as she looked at that man. Annabeth slowly walked beside me in the meanwhile as that guy began exining the story of her husband. Apparently, her husband had lost his sanity due to sudden loss of memories and closed himself in his castle. The entire floor is dead with no life energy present on the floor. The 46th floor is a dead zone where nobody goes and is generally used in case of emergency gatherings such as for war. Her husband is found to scream Nora''s name at times, though the screams that follow that name shudders the entire floor, killing all the nts in there. Plus the energy that flows out of the castle suffocates most of the weak yers, so it''s more of an instant death for those who weren''t strong. "That is all that I know about him. I apologize for theck of more information," he spoke with a sad expression, while a stream of tears trickled down Nora''s cheeks, as she looked at that man. A look of desperation appeared on her face as she then turned to me with hope,"hey you! Crowley! I will do it! I will help you out! will do anything you want! Can you¡­ can you¡­ please help my husband? You don''t forget about me like the others, right? Can you go tell my husband about me? Tell him that I am fine? Tell him it''s okay? He can forget about me! Please please! I¡­ It¡­ it''s too cruel¡­ I¡­ Crowley¡­ Can you please¡­" And once again I saw a woman crying in front of me, breaking down, begging me. And once again, I sighed as I wondered if I should really do it. The more I avoid being the center the more things beplicated¡­ [I was going to ask you to save that Adminter, anyway. Though for now, it would be better for you to increase your strength. You aren''t strong enough to handle it. Later you will not only save that admin, you can even bring him to Nora.] I sent that message through the [Game Master System], in front of me, for everyone to see. While what I say directly would certainly have some effect, the words of a [???] contractor who can make changes to the [System] is way heavier than mine. This way, I can avoid being the center of attention to some extent. Though before that¡­ "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" I wonder how I am gonna handle the stupefied expressions of the people present here. Chapter 96: [In these Shadows!] [Location: ???] In a space filled with darkness, there were ck goo-like beings walking around the area. If not for the countless stars in the sky that illuminated the area a bit, one couldn''t even see himself in that area. And living in such an environment, were these beings that had no form or shape. Even though they were formless, this did not mean that they didn''t posees intelligence. In fact, they were as intelligent as any other being in the universe. And had powers that one could never imagine in their worst nightmares. Just that their motives and will to do anything were nonexistent. Though not all were like that¡­ In that area, there was a ce containing runes of a forgotten kingdom. Broken down walls and arge empty hall with no roof at its top. On one of its edges, there was a singr throne present, signifying that this big hall was a throne room from a past age. Though rather than being empty, there sat a being on that throne with his head resting against his hand. Even though his figure was human-like, he had no eyes to see, no ears to hear, and no mouth to speak with. His entire body was made up ck goo, covering from top to bottom, as he faced towards the iing miniature goblin like goos towards him. Even though these beings can take any form possible, the form they chose in the end was that was much more simr to humans and other bipeds. And even though they simply wandered around the world without any will of any form, today was a bit different from the others. Those miniature goblin-like beings walked towards the human-like goo and spoke in a voice that wasn''t human at all. Instead of talking, it seemed more as screeching or screaming. "We bear news," the goblin-like goo screeched as he looked at the one sitting on a throne. Though seeming uninterested, the human-like goo, observed that goblin for a few seconds as he continued. "A rift was found at the edge of the world. A rift to the tower." And then, the ''eyes'' of that human-like goo opened, showing a white hollow emptiness. He observed those miniature goblin-like goos, who seemed to be smiling with a deep grin that literally reached from one ear to another. "Is it still open? The tower doesn''t likes our presence," that human-like being spoke with interest as he looked at that goblin-like being, though all he got in answer was, "A strange energy from the Tower. Blocked our path. The tower closed the rift itself." The human-like being''s smile dampened a bit but then he smiled as he then stood up as he spoke, "Do not worry. We will wait for our chance. How is the corruption energy report?" "We have been leaking our energy into the tower much more than before. It won''t be long before we could send at least one of us into the tower itself. Kekekeke¡­ the day that the tower is ours, isn''t far," that goblin-like goo screeched as heughed, making others around himugh as well. As the others heard screeching, they too began screeching out loud before the entire area beganughing madly, enough to shake the entire ce. As for the Human-like goo, he had a wide smile on his face, "Soon. I will be able to reim what''s rightfully mine." And then he too beganughing in a screeching voice as well. ¡­ [Alice''s POV!] "¡­.mmmm¡­ what time it is¡­ " Hearing the sleepy voice of Alex, my eyes slowly opened as I woke up from my dreams. A single tear trickled down my cheeks, as I dreamt of spending a vacation with my family. As I woke up, I wiped my tears before stretching a little. "¡­awaaah¡­ hmmm? Adrian?" I mumbled as I rubbed my eyes with a refreshing yawn and then saw that he wasn''t there. There was a small artifact present at the bottom of the floor, which made me look at its description. [Item: Safety Room! Grade: E Effects: Creates an illusionary empty room that hides all those present in the room. And if the being somehow ends up passing the detection of the artifact, it breaks up creating a loud sound, rming everyone in the room!] A smile appeared on my face as I let the item keep functioning before picking up my secondary weapon, my sword, and began walking outside the room. Adrian must have gone to do something important if he really had to leave. ''Though I wonder what he is upto? Always acting so mysterious,'' I pondered as I felt a bit hungry. I think the kitchen was somewhere on the left side of the castle. Walking towards the kitchen, I suddenly started feeling a chill covering my entire body. The more I walked closer the more I felt ''scared'' of that ce. ''Something is there,'' I was pretty sure. Something ugly. Something super strong. My entire being was asking me to run away from here, but I was also worried that if I were to leave that as it is, I won''t be able to sleep in this castle ever again. "Alice," a voice called me out, making a turn around, only to find a familiar face in front of me. A girl with simr hair and facial features as mine. Even though there were some differences, we were still simr looking to be called sisters. "Evelin," I called her out as well. I met Evelin in this tutorial. We happened toe across each other as soon as the tutorial started, and somehow we were banded together until we reached the city gate. She was strong, and extremely skilled with her crossbow. If I were to fight against her, then I probably have to go all out, and I still don''t think I can''t win against her. I felt like the main difference between us was our experience with our weapons and how we handle our surroundings. Was she a crossbow user before the apocalypse? People did like to hunt for sport even before that so it''s not exactly a surprising thing. Though anyways, I found Evelin pretty trustable and reliable. If we were in the same school, we could have even been best friends. "Will you go in there?" Evelin got directly to the point, and hearing her words I turned serious as well. Turning towards the kitchen, I narrowed my eyes again as I spoke, "I want to but my instincts are screaming to run away." It was an honest answer. And it seems like Evelin agrees to it as well. "We are nning to leave this castle at dawn. Though we need to confirm it with our strategist first. While we don''t take strangers in our group, I think it would be fine to take you with us," she proposed her idea to me, while I kind of agreed with her. "I was nning to stick around but looking at that¡­ I don''t think I will be able to stay here for long. I would love to travel with you but will it be alright if three more people join us? They are pretty reliable as well. Though¡­ I kind of need to confirm with my strategist as well." "Sure. As long as they aren''t a burden to the group, it''s fine. Just ask them not to be too curious about us," Evelin spoke and I smiled at her before nodding. "I''ll be going then. I wonder when that guy will return¡­ the group is getting anxious the more we are in the castle," she mumbled as left from there which made me think of the same thing. ''I wonder when Adrian will return. I, too, don''t want to stay here for long,'' I sighed as I once again took a peek at the kitchen wondering what kind of monsters are in there. Hopefully I will never get to know them. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] ''I wonder if I can introduce Alice and Boss''s group to the corrupted ones? They can surely get much stronger with them,'' I pondered this thought before putting it to the back of my mind. For now, let''s focus on the issue at hand. [I was going to ask you to save that Adminter, anyway. Though for now, it would be better for you to increase your strength. You aren''t strong enough to handle it. Later you will not only save that admin, you can even bring him to Nora.] The message was still floating in the air, attracting the attention of everyone present here. Though after a few seconds it vanished by itself before I turned to girl sitting just beside me, "Hey. Who are these guys? They look really strong," I asked Annabeth in a low voice, as she came out of her stupor and observed me. Then recalling something, she answered, "Ah! Crowley, this is our leader, Seat 1. And beside him are seat 2 and seat 4, respectively. Remember 3 went to call some people for help? It''s them." I was really surprised. I expected that the guy in front of me was really strong but I didn''t expect for the leader himself toe into the tutorial to meet me. "That''s¡­ fast," I mumbled as I saw that leader guy observing me from top to bottom before giving out a kind smile as he answered, "Firstly I would like you to thank you for saving my friends from dying. If there is anything I can do for you in return please ask away. And secondly, I thank you for what you have done for 11. She no longer needs to restrict herself to the lower floors, and given she is much stronger than before, in a way you have increased our firepower at least by 100% of not more." He bowed politely before speaking, "I have heard you can make changes to the system itself. If it''s not too much, and if I can be a bit shameless then, can I ask you of two favous? It''s something that our life depends upon and something that is like a knife to our throat. If you can do that then I and my entire group will forever be in your debt." I tilted my head slightly in confusion before asking, "What do you want?" And then his next words shocked me a little. "I¡­ have actually made a deal with a devil." Chapter 97: [Devil!] "I¡­ have actually made a deal with a devil." I was shocked to hear that. But then I calmed down as I realized that I was now living in a fantasy world where anything was possible. We got elves here, and vampires that walk in the morning. A walking unicorn-human wouldn''t really surprise me, either. Though on that note, I was the only one who was carrying that expression right now. The others were pretty calm as if they already knew about it. And if I were to make a proper guess then¡­ "The Corrupted Energy?" It was too disgusting to be around. I was somehow managing to bear with it, but if I were to have a choice I would have rather not be sitting around people with that kind of stench. He nodded as he spoke, "I''ll keep it brief. My [Gift: Absorption and Re-distribution!] is a [Beyond Mythical Grade] gift. It''s already a known fact to all the people on the 40th floor and above so it doesn''t matter even if I tell you all this." I listened to him as he exined a bit about how his gift functions. He can absorb and amplify any form of energy and give to another person. The amplification works in various ways, from modifying that energy into a powerful curse, or changing that into a skill enhancer that temporarily increases the grade of ones that the others possess. Though the real power behind his gift is that he can absorb not just energy but anything. From the life force of other people to their time and existence to a certain degree. In a way he can take one''s time and give to another. Not just that, he can even take a part of their [Gift] and [Skills] and give to another person as long as it''spatible. Not just to others he can even take it to himself. Though there was one w in his ability. He needs to take consent of the front person to do so. And as we reached that part of the conversation, my eyes grew cold as I looked at him. Doesn''t that mean that he was here to take my [Gift] and powers? "Ah! You seem to be misunderstanding something," he spoke as he observed my face as he continued," even though your power holds the authority to make changes to the system itself, it''s not something I can have. There is actually another hidden w of the [Gift] that I had. Not exactly a w but more like a rule." I observed his face with a serious expression as he exined further, "I cannot touch the energy of the system or anything like that. You know, how I can absorb anything, right? Actually I once tried to absorb the system itself. It wasn''t mine but of someone who owed me a lot. Did you know what happened?" A slight scared expression appeared on that guy''s face as he chuckled dryly before speaking, "It said [You do not have the Authority to touch the System of the Tower. Further Attempts would be taken as a threat to the system and your existence will be erasedpletely!]." My eyes widened at his words as he shook his head before speaking, "I don''t dare to do anything to the system itself. I don''t think it''s a matter of [Gift], either. You probably have more secrets than your gift, I understand, and that is why I am asking for your help. If it were just your [Gift] then I probably would have talked to you a bit before leaving from here. But I am d that that''s not the case here." I was confused as I tilted my head in confusion. What was he talking about? Did he know about the [Game master system]? It doesn''t seem like that. "Mr. Crowley. I am the Seat 4 of the corrupted ones. If it is all right, may I answer your question?" Seat 4 politely asked and I nodded before she spoke, "I don''t know if you know this but I am from an Ancient Race of Seers, and Ie from a world that is much higher than the worlds of other yers. My eyes can see anything I want to see, sometimes even bypassing the system and showing me the Admin''s and the others status and stats as well. Do you know what I saw when I tried looking at your status?" I felt my heartbeat increase as I saw her smile a bit before she answered herself, "[You do not have the authority to see the stats of this person!]" And I gulped as I calmed down hearing her words. Inside, I sighed in relief as I realized that I was still pretty much safe. Though perhaps the ''fear'' on my face must have made them misunderstood my thoughts as the leader spoke, "From your expression, it doesn''t seem like you know much about that either. I don''t know if it is a good thing or not. Though it is true that you can interfere with the system without getting any side-effects. And that is why I need your help with two things." And once again,ing back to square one, I looked at that guy, wondering what those two requests were. He told me about his [Gift] but the topic kind of drifted off from there. "I told you that I made a deal with the devil, right? Actually on the 46th Floor where the Admin''s energy was wreaking havoc, there were small cracks appearing within the floor itself. Through those cracks, the corrupted energy began flowing within the floor, which I could absorb and use it for myself. It was a powerful energy that could indirectly interfere with the system itself. Though random, it was still better than nothing. Some got cursed, others got a blessing," he told me the origin of the Corrupted Energy. ''So the corrupted energy is from the outside world? Does that mean I can get a lot of GM points if I go to the 46th Floor?'' It was difficult to hide my smile as I thought about it. Meanwhile the leader continued, "The problem was that due to the continuous filling of corrupted energy, the entire floor was beginning to break. So, I, being someone who can somewhat control that energy, transferred all that energy to a tree in the corner of the floor. At the beginning it solved the problem but¡­ something else took birth instead. That tree¡­ it came to life." My eyes narrowed as he exined more about it, "That tree called himself the incarnate of the Devil. At first I was worried, but then he proposed to me a deal that I couldn''t refuse. He told me that he can guide that [Corrupted Energy!], from providing a random effect on other systems. And in exchange we need to provide him with more corrupted energy." I sighed as I understood the gist of it. "Since there were heroes, I thought that tree was another part of the system that was going to give us another blessing or something. Though seemingly evil, as long as it''s within the system, it was fine to take it¡­ it''s what I thought until I noticed something wrong," a saddened expression appeared on his face as he gave out a deep sigh. "Everyone who got power from the corrupted energy was happy in the beginning but as time passed, their life force was getting consumed. The weaker yers started dying first, and the somewhat stronger ones were barely living. In the end about 40 or so people were left who were alive, including the 4 of us you see here. And it won''t be long before we too lose our life to that power as well." A life in exchange for power, huh? "The first thing that we ask from you, Sir Crowley, is can you please save us? Can you ask that being that is behind you to take our corruption energy? It pains me every time I see my friends dying because they trusted me," he said as touched my hand, asking me to help him out of this problem. [Would you like to erase the Corruption Energy of the target in exchange for 500 Million Points?] I almost wanted to jump at it and press [Yes] but then I controlled myself. Too much greed will get me killed, gotta do everything slowly. I thought that but¡­ ''500 Million and the other two would be around the same so that would be at least 1.5 Billion,'' my eyes twinkled as the 3 big bags of GM points in front of me. "Sir Crowley?" Seat 1 asked with a concerned expression before I shook my head before speaking, "I don''t know. Even though my [Contractor] and I are on friendly terms, he mostly does his own thing while I do mine. So while I do want to help you, he is the only one who is capable of doing so. In fact, he was the one who helped her as well." I spoke and the leader looked at the girl on his right side. She seemed like an elf though her hair was a bit snowy and the air around her was a bit cold. Was she another race of elves? "I don''t know. My skills doesn''t work on him," that girl answered making the leader look at me with a slight narrowed look before he mumbled, "Looks like we need to take a risk with this one." And then a friendly smile appeared on his face as he asked, "Thank you for understanding. Even if you fail to do so, it''s not much we can do. Plus we have already epted our fates as well. Though, will it be all right if I ask you for another favor?" Ah! He said that he has 2 favors he needs from me. He only told me one of them. "From what I have heard, you yourself can make minor changes to the systems of others so, can you help remove a curse from our Seat 4? Even if you can''t it''s fine, but can you check if you are able to do so?" And he spoke before pointing to that Seer girl again. I saw her entire body behind a cloak and wondered if that curse had something to do with it. Even though I can see her system even at a distance, I need to show that I need physical touch to do it. So, I asked her toe closer before I touched her cheeks to see her system. And once I checked it¡­ "¡­" I wondered if what I saw was correct or not. Especially a small part of the system. [Titles: Former Tower Master(Ex) Seventh Seer (Ex) Wife of Lirawern, the 4th Fate Weaver (Ex)¡­ Status: Broken Existence ; Cursed by the Enchantress (Ex)] Chapter 98: [Risaliyah!] "So. What do you think?" Seat 1 asked as I broke out of my stupor. My eyes were still glued to the [Former Tower Master] title, and I had so many questions, but for now I decided to be quiet. [Your Authority Level is too low! Increase your authority level if you want to remove/make changes to the Curse!] ''Hmmm?'' I looked at the message with a peculiar gaze. Though I didn''t think much of it. After all, if there are beings who can curse a tower master then they must be pretty powerful. It makes sense for the system to not be able to remove it at my current authority level. "I don''t know. It says that my gift is a bit too low, and. I need to increase it if I want to make changes to the curse or remove it," I answered as I looked at Seat 4, who had a thoughtful expression on her face. "Is that so? Well, at least it''s better than not getting anything," seat 1 was in a deep thought before he added, "You have a growth type gift right? How does it grow or increase in grade? I mean it would be helpful for all of us if you can reach a higher grade as fast as possible." ''Hmmm. How does my Gift grow, huh? While it would be helpful if I can just directly tell them ''by killing monsters'' or ''by making corrections to the system'' but then it would make things harder for me in the long run,'' I was lost in deep thought as I looked at him. While I can ask them to get me thest kill on monsters for a fast GM point source, I don''t think I would need it after having Annabeth as my contractee anymore. As for making corrections, I can co-rte it with the corruption energy but then he will bring 40 more people to save here. Not a bad thing, but honestly, it will attract too much attention. ''So something with which I can benefit without catching any attention? It also needs to be something that only I can do so that others won''t be able to hinder me,'' I thought before giving an answer that would help me the best in the long run. "It''s not something you can help with, really. Or to be urate, its quest type and totally random," I began speaking all the nonsense I could as I recalled my time in the tutorial. "The first quest was in the tutorial to remove all the traps. The second quest was to conquer a dungeon. Third, to fight and survive against the boss monster of the tutorial. I got rewards as points based on the quest which I could use to either make changes into the system or increase my authority." I paused as I saw them all paying full attention to my words. ''I shouldn''t stretch it too much and keep it under the line,'' I thought before continuing, "And finally I got two quests in this tutorial. One was to survive in the wilderness when everyone else was inside the city gates and the other was a sudden emergency quest with the rift." Finishing it, I looked at them as they observed me with a thoughtful expression before Seat 1 asked, "Do you have any active quests right now?" I shook my head before speaking," none as of now. Though based on the pattern of the quest, I should either get one in this tutorial or one in the next one." "Makes sense," Seat 1 spoke as he sighed while I pondered if I should help them out with the situation or not. Kindness is good but doing it free will make them take me for granted. And if I keep it easy for them to reach [???] then either they will abuse that or get too much suspicion. "Also, I tried talking with my contractor but he said that it''s not easy to do it all at once. Especially with that rift thing. His powers aren''t omnipotent and he would need at least a month before he can remove curse of any form. Plus, he won''t be doing it for free," I said as I left problems of the future to the future. One thing I learned about money is that if you get too much at once, it''s almost never free. Chances are the price you would need to pay ends up being more than you can afford. ''Still it''s not like I won''t make anything from here,'' I thought as I saw him standing up again. "I guess that''s more than enough. Thank you Crowley," he said as he then took out a strange stone before passing it to me," I actually came down in a hurry. Though I am d that I came, I now need to go back. If you find yourself in any emergency then just break that stone and I will personallye to help you out." He then turned around before speaking,"11. Since you can fight, can I ask you toe up as fast as possible? We will need as much firepower as possible. And 4. Stay here instead, help Crowley out with anything he needs." He was decisive as he left while Annabeth winked at me before leaving from there with Seat 1. Seat 2 waved at me as well with a kind smile, while I looked at Seat 4 with a deep gaze. Nora was still there as she had calmed down quite a lot. She was simply observing all of us while eating thatst piece of pie. Seemingly, she had a lot to say and ask but she patiently waited for the conversation to end. At first I wondered why they left without speaking anything to Nora, but then I recalled that they will forget about her anyway so there was no point in doing so. Or did they already forget about her? Probably. I don''t know. "I will be taking my leave as well. I have found my answer that I was looking for and I have decided that now, I will help those Gods," the Admin, Balthazar spoke as he politely bowed before leaving from there as well. Observing seat 4 and Nora, I then pondered for a few seconds before standing up and then moving towards the furnace again. Taking out a bunch of strawberries and cornstarch, I then began making more strawberry pies. Though a bit confused at first, Seat 4 smiled as she saw my intentions and then sat on the seat that I was sitting and began talking with Nora. I pondered about the curse that Seat 4 had a bit. [Curse of the Enchantress Grade: Ex Description: In order to prevent Lirawern from getting his memories back and to prevent any chance of the target to reach Lirawern, this curse has been ced on Risaliyah, the wife of Lirawern. Effect: -Each time the Target even tries to get back to Lirawern, a portion of her existence will be erased! -Banish the Existence of the Target to the Tower of Forbidden Path! -Prevents the Target to die! Forbidding her to enter the cycle of reincarnation or regression!] ''She really got her husband stolen, huh? Just who did she tick off so badly?'' I pondered as I looked at the curse for a while. Risaliyah, huh? Should I pity her? It''s not really a kind fate that she has. Hmmm¡­ Even though her fate is different from Nora, it''s still simr in many ways. I looked at her happily talking with Nora while I sighed wondering if I should involve myself in this mess or not. The Enchantress sounds rather powerful. ''Plus¡­ the Tower of Forbidden Path? Is that the tower''s name?'' I was surprised to see that as well. I guess I am closer to the truth now? Well¡­ never really cared so much about it. Taking out the fresh pies, I then took them to the girls as I spoke,"here is your fooddies. Eat ''em up before it gets cold." [Professional Cooking!] was a nice skill to have to be honest. I wonder if I can improve it to something better as well? Hmmm¡­ I should think about itter. "Thank you for the meal!" Nora''s mood got uplifted again as I smiled at her while Rosaliyah was looking at me with a deep gaze. A smile was present on her face as she kept observing me. "What?" I asked. "How much did you see?" She spoke curiously. "A little bit of this and that," I answered vaguely as I picked up a pie before beginning to eat it. Until I decide that I really am going to help her, I would like to have a clear distance between us. And obviously I would need to understand what exactly am I getting into before moving in for help. The person who ced the curse on her is actually someone from outside the tower, someone who seemed powerful enough to banish her to this ce. "Is that so?" She spoke before beginning to eat her portion of the food as well. Meanwhile I looked at the [Map] to find out what the others were doing as well. I think since I have a partial control of what I may say tk the Gods of this world, I can also partially control this tutorial and the next. ''Hmmmm¡­ I think¡­ I know how to maximize the profits from the tutorial this time,'' I smiled as I looked at the quests of these Tutorials. And then at Risaliyah and Nora who were enjoying the food. "Nora. Risaliyah. I need you guys to do something for me," I spoke as I began exining to them my ns for the tutorials. Chapter 99: [Best Friends!] [Your Contractee(Annabeth Percy Milliam) has killed a B- Grade Monster: Reaper!] [+50,000 GM Points!] [Your Contractee(Annabeth Percy Milliam) has killed a B- Grade Monster: Reaper!] [+50,000 GM Points!] [Your Contractee(Annabeth Percy Milliam) has killed an Elite B-Grade Monster: Dark Golem Necromancer!] [+150,000 GM Points!] These messages starteding from early morning and were continuouslying ever since then. I observed the total points that I had now, and a smile appeared on my face. [GM Points: 17,090,100!] At this rate, my problem of earning GM points is solved. What''s left is to use those points ordingly. Though before that, "How are we going to create a barrier defense around here? None of us here have any gift that could help with the protection of an entire kingdom," Mark spoke as he looked around him, at the forest that was just beyond the city gates. Since I have a Map based [Gift] and he has a scouting type [Gift], we were currently incharge of finding out ways to increase the city defenses. I had a couple of ideas with which I can use the GM points, though honestly, it wasn''t needed at all. All the more because the monsters around were not strong enough to defeat any of the yers here. I took my time to ask the Gods about it and they said that the main threats of this world were knights from the holy kingdom. As for the monsters, even though there were a few of them around this world, they were mostly located at the far edge of the kingdom. Since I wanted the tutorial to proceed smoothly, I asked for Nora and Risaliyah to help me out and stop the holy knights from invading this kingdom. This made quests stay stagnant while I got enough time on my hands to do anything I want. And the first thing I decided to do was to catch up with Mark. I felt like what I was doing was not right at all. I shouldn''t ignore him as much as I do, and probably let him get involved with everything that has been going on. Though how much I should tell and how much I should hide was something that I still haven''t decided yet. "I am not sure. Even if we were to protect and guard it from outside threats, what would happen if someone were to open a portal inside the city walls?" I spoke, making him nod at my words. "Should we go back then?" He asked and I pondered a bit before speaking, "No. Since we were given the entire morning and afternoon, let''s scout the area outside the city. Though before that, there is something I wanted to show you." [Artifact: Skill Deconstructor! Grade: S Status: Bound to Adrian John Rodriguez! Effects: Allows the user to convert Skill Cards into Skill Points for himself and others! Card Conversion Rates: -10 F Grade Cards: 1 Skill Point -1 E-Grade Card: 1 Skill Point -1 D-Grade Card: 10 Skill Points -1 C-Grade Card: 100 Skill Points -1 B-Grade Card: 1000 Skill Points -1 A-Grade Card: 10,000 Skill Points -1 S-Grade Card: 100,000 Skill Points] I used about 500,000 GM points to make a little change that would allow me to let others use this artifact as well. This is to ensure I could get a lot of normal points from the towerter on in the future. Though for now, I wanted to use it for my friends. "Holy¡­" he was about to curse as he looked at that artifact before observing me with an even more shocked expression. While I just chuckled before speaking, "Let''s go hunt some monsters, shall we?" Mark was the first one that I told about this artifact. He was a close friend, and he probably was the weakest among the friends that I had here. So, I decided that I should at least help him get at least 5 to 6 A-Grade skills if possible. Though before that¡­ "How many skills do you have? And what are their grades?" I asked as I looked at him and he pondered before speaking, "3 D-Grades, 1 F-Grades and 1 C-Grade." That was bad. The fact that he was able to survive this long with only those skills must mean that he was either really talented or he was able to get some good weaponry. And as far as I have known him, it''s probably both. I looked at his skills through the [elerated Analysis] and found that the 3 D-Grade skills were rted to his [Gift]. One allowed him to increase his range by 30%, another increased his uracy and speed by 50% and thest one something that increased the damage based on range. The farther the target, the more damage. His C-Grade was [Hunt], which made me sigh as that skill was both useful and useless at the same time. Though the most fascinating was the F-Grade skill. [Skill: Bullet Time Grade: F Effect: For 3 seconds, slows everything else allowing the target to see everything in slow motion! (Time dtion effect:: 2:1 for normal time) Cooldown: 2 Hours] "You didn''t use your skill points on the F-Grade skill?" I was a bit surprised though he shook his head as he spoke," I was saving to upgrade one of the D-Grade skills to at least B-Grade. Though I was also waiting to get any good Marksman rted skills as well. You know, in case I get something that''s way better than the others?" I pondered before speaking," how many skill points do you have right now?" "1219," He answered honestly, while I looked at him with a deep gaze before speaking,"all right. Let''s take 4 of your skills to B-Grade for now, though start with the F-Grade one. I think that''s the one you need to invest the most. Can you bring it to C-Grade?" Taking my advice to heart, he simply invested 111 points in the skill, taking it to C-Grade instantly. [Skill: Bullet Time Grade: C Effect: -For 60 seconds, slows everything else allowing the target to see everything in slow motion! (Time dtion effect:: 10:1 for Normal Time) -The user''s uracy will increase by 10% within the bullet time! -The user''s speed will be increased by 25% and evasion reflex will increase by 20% in the bullet time! Cooldown: 30 Minutes] "Wanna see a trick?" I asked Mark before I made a couple of changes to the skill. I wasn''t telling him everything, but I guess I can let him know a bit of what I was capable of. It was my way of returning the trust that he has shown in me. [Skill: Bullet Time Grade: C Effect: -For 60 seconds, slows everything else allowing the target to see everything in slow motion! (Time Dtion effect: 15:1 for normal time) -The user''s uracy will increase by 50% within the bullet time! -The user''s speed will be increased by 50% and evasion reflexes will increase by 50% in bullet time! -The user''s proficiency with the weapon will increase by 10%! Additional Effects: -[Rapid Bullet Time]: When the user is in sudden danger, then the skill automatically activates once every 24 hours. In this state, all the effects of Bullet time will be present and will be increased by 200%. Skill time: 3 seconds. Cooldown: 30 Minutes] [Would you like to make the following changes for 4.9 Million GM Points?] I clicked [Yes] without much worries as I saw the changes in his skill. His eyes widened as he observed the skill with a shocked expression while I put the index finger on my lips, asking him to be secretive about it. "It was something I got from the contract," I satisfied his curiosity as well, making him widen his eyes even more as he understood the reason why I wasn''t telling anyone about it. "Now upgrade it to B-Grade. The effects shoulde out better," I spoke with a smile as he too nodded and hurriedly put 1000 skill points into the skill. His smile was stretched from one ear to another, while he kept looking at that skill. [Skill: Time Dtion Grade: B Effect: -For 1-120 seconds, slows everything else allowing the target to see everything in slow motion! (Time Dtion effect: 30:1 for normal time) -The user''s uracy will increase by 80% within the bullet time! -The user''s speed will be increased by 200% and evasion reflexes will increase by 75% in bullet time! -The user''s proficiency with the weapon will increase by 40%! Additional Effects: -[Rapid Bullet Time]: When the user is in sudden danger, then the skill automatically activates once every 12 hours. In this state, all the effects of Bullet time will be present and will be increased by 300%. Skill time: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 1-20 Minutes] "All right. Let''s increase the skill to A-Grade before we return back to the base," I suggested before I began walking deeper into the forest. Though he was still standing there as he asked, "But what about you? If you give me all the points to upgrade my skill, then you will be wasting all of your time." "¡­" I don''t know whether he was naive or was just this caring. But a smile appeared on my face as I looked at the concern he was showing for me. All right¡­ I have decided. I am going to get him at least 1 S-Grade skill before we get out of here. "It''s all right. I already have enough because of my contract. Right now, I just want to increase the Grade of my [Gift]. It''s a growth type, remember?" I calmed his concern as he slowly nodded. He was still hesitant but he didn''t question anything further as we went deeper into the forest. I wonder what sort of expression he would have if he knew what I was capable of. Chapter 100: [Far from Home!] [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Mortal Grade-2 Experience till next Grade: 51.21%( Map 5,000 Kilometers in Area) Effect: -Allows the user to make a detailed Map of everything that he has captured with the skill [Mapping!] -The user can now create a hologram to show the Map to others. -The user can now Add one of his skills tobine with the Gift! The functions will be adjusted ording to the [Gift]! -Unlocked Skills: [Mapping!] [Perfect Measurement!] [Eidetic Memory!] [Spatial Sense!] [Creator''s Dexterity!] ] [Skill: Creator''s Dexterity Grade: B (Linked with the Gift: Cartography) Effects: -Allows the user to draw or recreate anything that he has seen. -Increases the depth of intrication the user can perform with his hands! -The user can create any B-Grade or lower artifacts as long as he has seen the process once! Additional effects: Maps drawn by the user cannot be destroyed by anyone weaker than the User himself!] Most of the [Gift: Skills] had reached to B-Grade, with their functions reaching to a new level than before. A few examples would be like [Mapping!] can now map anything I see to some extent while Mapping at least 800 meters around me perfectly without missing a spot. [Perfect Measurement] now allows me to measure the amount of energy anything has, how long it will take to reach somewhere and even perfectly calcte even the most twisted calctions. [Eidetic Memory] and [Spatial Sense] had minimal changes that allowed me to remember everything that I sensed as well along with increasing the area which I can sense around me. Based on how it was increasing, I can guess that all of them would increase to A-Grade when my [Gift] reaches to [Mortal Grade - 0]. Though it also makes me wonder what type of changes I will get in [Upper Mortal Grade!]. ''Well. It''s going to take some time, I guess,'' I thought as I sighed before checking the [Map] once more. "Where are we?" Mark asked as he looked at the surroundings, while I observed the map with a narrowed gaze. He and I were hunting continuously without any pause since we needed to upgrade his skills to A-Grade, but somehow the more we ran, the more fun it got. It was interesting to see the changes in his skills, and we felt like we were ''whaling'' the whole thing. Honestly it was addictive. But how the heck, it''s evening time, right now? And more importantly, how did we travel 1000 kilometers in 10 hours? Were we traveling at 100 kilometers per hour or something?!!! I was shocked. Or to be precise, I miscalcted. My [Kic Mastery!] allowed me to travel as fast as I could, while Mark''s [Ranger''s Aura], which was now a B-Grade skill, increased his overall agility by 300%. Added with his weapons and items which he mostly based on [Agility], his total Agility was raised to 300. ''An Agility monster, huh?'' I was happy that we could hunt faster but¡­ oh well. Guess, I underestimated him because of hisck of skills but it seems like his items made up for that. For the first time, I checked his [Stats] and sighed. I honestly didn''t like going into other''s privacy unless they tell me to, or they give me a reason to. Also, I especially avoid checking into private matters of those close to me. It was a form of minimum respect I show to them. "I checked your stats¡­ you sure are a monster, aren''t you? Almost fooled me," I told him that I did so, at which he observed me for a few seconds before asking,"I am? I think you are far more of a monster than me. Just what kind of skills do you even possess?" And his words made me silent as I agreed with him. It''s not my ce to call him a monster given the things which I can do. "Anyways, how do we get back? Do you know the way back?" He asked as he was a bit concerned about the ce we were. A dead area with barely any life. We could see a couple of monsters at a distance, while the silent cold winds seem rather eerie right now. I opened the [Map]hologram as I showed him where we were and how far we needed to travel before we could get back to our base. "How did we even get this far?!!!" And yeah, his reaction was the same as mine. Well since we havee this far, I should send a message to Alice and the others that it will take some time to return back home. Maybe we will reach there by tomorrow morning, or a bitter. The problem was that my [Illusion] skill did not work that far. I mean, it would be pretty overpowered if I can create an illusion as far as I can see on the map- And then I recalled one of the newer functions of the [Gift], which made me wonder if I can put [Illusion skill] with the map? Surely that would be the best skill for that purpose right? I checked the other skills and in the end, I believed it was the right thing to do. The other skills that could have worked with that were [elerated Analysis] and [The One], but the problem was that it said that the functions will be adjusted ording to the [Gift] which meant that they would probably degrade. [Skill: Illusion has been linked with the [Gift: Cartography!]] [Skill: Illusions Grade: B (Linked with the Gift: Cartography) Effect: Create a near perfect Illusion based on your Map Depth and extent of creation! You can create an illusion anywhere on the map! Restrictions: The Illusion is dependent upon the area of the map you have unlocked! The farther you are from the illusion the less the resolution! Minimum Resolution: Depend upon Gift! Maximum Resolution: Depends upon the User''s Capabilities] ''Oh!'' I was surprised to see the changes. Even though it said that the grade was down by 1, functionally there were no changes to the skill itself. Much better than I thought. And with that, I sent a message to the concerned people about our current situation, before I wondered what we should do next. Though Mark found something on the map he was curious about, "Ad. Red is monsters, green is yers and yellow is NPC, right?" "Yeah. Cool, right?" I smirked at him before he ignored me and continued asking, "What''s blue, pink and purple?" I looked at him before looking at the castle area. It seems Nora, Admin and Rosaliyah are back. Though, I don''t think they would be able to find me anytime soon. "The blue are generally staff people. Admin and stuff, the pink is more likely something on a higher level of authority. I saw one on the first floor as well. As for the purple, hmmm, if I remember correctly they are people who have special energies. I don''t know much about it other than what my Gift told me," I spoke as I saw them walking around the area. Mark was pretty surprised to see them in the kitchen eating strawberry pie, but then he didn''t seem to care much as well. Perhaps this wasn''t as interesting to him as some others may find. "And what''s white?" He asked again. "That would be me," I spoke as if it was a form of locator or GPS that allowed me to find myself on the map. Neat stuff. "No. Not you, the other white. This guy here with that girl. They both have white color," he spoke, making my heart skip a beat as I looked at the area where he was pointing. It was about 10 kilometers away from here, a ce where we missed to look as there were no monsters. My eyes observed them trying to take a look at their stats but.. [Your Authority Level is too low to look at their Status! Please increase your Authority Level to see their stats!] When I saw that message, I tried taking a proper look at them, but before I could do so¡­ the girl¡­ she turned to the sky¡­ no¡­ she was looking at me. A smile appeared on her face as she observed me while mumbling something. Even though I couldn''t hear what she was saying, I clearly understood it somehow. "Kids shouldn''t pry into adult''s matter." She spoke as I gulped looking into her deep ck eyes through the map. "Ad¡­ Adria¡­ ADRIAN!!!" Mark shouted waking me up from my stupor. I looked at him with a slight scared expression before I spoke, "They¡­ I don''t know who they are." "Who?" Mark asked with a concerned face. His eyes were really worried about me as he checked my forehead for fever and stuff. "Those white coloured¡­" I was about to speak but I saw that they were no longer there. My eyes narrowed a bit as I tried searching for them but couldn''t find them anywhere anymore. "Adrian. Are you okay?" Mark asked again. "No¡­ it''s fine. I was just shocked to see a white color " I spoke as I looked at him. It was something that I needed to ask Nora and others probably. They would know more about it than I do. "Adrian. What are you talking about? What white color?" And Mark asked, making me look at him again, with my eyes widened for a moment. "¡­" And then I wondered¡­ should we call it a day and return to base now? Chapter 101: [Camping!] [Mark''s POV!] [Gift: Eagle''s Eyes Grade: Mortal Grade-4 Effect: Increases the viewpoint uracy of the Target based on the user''s Intelligence! -For every 1 point in intelligence, the user''s viewpoint increases by 1000 Meter! -For every 1% increase in the distance (Based on max distance the user can see) from the user, the uracy decreases by 1% (Max 100%) ] I looked at my [Gift] for a few seconds before checking out my Intelligence Stat. [Intelligence: 34 (+120)!] ''Well. At this point, I shouldn''t have any problems with shooting any targets for now,'' I smiled as I felt it was a good idea to invest in items that boosted both Agility and Intelligence. Added with the fact that Adrian was able to [Upgrade] my items to B-Grade without much difficulty, I was able to reach this point. "Are you sure I should have this?" And then I asked Adrian as I looked at the skill that we somehow ended up finding after hunting a C-Grade Monster. [Skill: Sharpshooter''s Sense! Grade: C Effect: -Allows the user to sense anything even with their eyes closed! The user can find the presence of anything around him based on how far he could see! -Allows the user to sense any dangering from all directions! -Allows the user to gauge the strength of the enemy at a nce!] "I can already see as far as possible because of my [Gift]. You sure, this would be helpful?" I asked him as he was checking the perimeter for any more monsters. We have already upgraded all of my Skills to [B-Grade], except for [Hunt] which Adrian wanted me to remove for some reasons. "It goes well with your [Gift]. Plus, I believe I can change the description of it a bitter before upgrading it to [B-Grade] as well. Trust me on this, this could end up being your hidden cardter on," he spoke with a confident voice as I observed him. And then trusting him on this, I used that skill card, filling up the 7th Skill spot as well. "All right. Give me your hand," he spoke as I raised my hands towards him, and then he did something in the air before speaking,"now put 1000 skill points in that skill," and then I did as he spoke. [Skill: Sharpshooter''s Sense! Grade: B Effect: -Allows the user to sense anything even with their eyes closed! The user can find the presence of anything around him based on how far he could see! The user can read the energies of all those present around him! -Creates a grid line that allows the user to instantly calcte the position of the target and the user''s distance from the target! Additional Effects: -Sixth Sense: Allows the user to sense any dangering from all directions moments before they ur! At random events, the user can even see the future events that would harm him in the next few seconds! -Focus: Allows the user to gauge the strength and weaknesses of the enemy at a nce! The user can identify all the strong and weak points of the enemy if he concentrates!] "Holy¡­" shit! I widened up my eyes as I saw the effects of the skill. Isn''t it like 3 in one skill? We got weakness detection, danger detection and the ability to calcte the distance of the target and the user! "Since your Gift allows you to see 100s of kilometers, you can basically see a huge amount of area around us at once, predict the danger, and find out the strength and weakness of everything around us at once," he spoke as he smiled, making me feel happy on the inside. Truly¡­ I would never even need to worry about anything as long as I am with him. And then thinking about something, I tried looking at Adrian as my first target of my skill. Let''s see if¡­ "Hmmm?" And I narrowed my eyes at him as I observed that¡­ he had no weaknesses. Even though he was barely standing there, I could feel that I couldn''t touch him even once. And even though it was a feeling¡­ but even with my [Gift], I would fail to hit him even once. "What happened?" He asked as he smiled without any care before beginning to look at the map again. We were right now going back, but rather thaning from the same path, we were taking a bit longer path. It was something rted to how he wanted to increase his [Gift]''s proficiency as much as possible. And even when he seemed so nonchnt as he hummed and looked through the hologram map and his own [System], I still couldn''t see a single weakness through my skill. In the end, I sighed as I mumbled, ''Monster.'' Before I asked,"how long will it take for us to return?" It was midnight, and even though there weren''t any visible dangers around us, I still didn''t feel safe in this forest. Unlike Ad, who was enjoying the entire atmosphere, I was still looking around with my newfound powers for any signs of dangers and such. "We could reach there in about 5 hours if we continue at this pace, but let''s camp here instead. Actually rather than going, I was thinking of checking out something that I found on the map," he said as he pointed at a certain point on the map. "Hmmm? What''s that¡­ green color? yers?" I was surprised to see some of the yers marked on the map. They were roughly around 200 kilometers away from here, and should take about 2 hours if we were to move right now. "They should be the others who got transferred with us here. And given how there are a bunch of them, there should be a city nearby as well. I have already marked them on the map so even if they were to move out of known space, we should be able to follow them. What do you say?" He asked as he looked at them with interest. I pondered about it before speaking, "Do we really have to camp here? I don''t mind following them back to their city, but staying here in the forest¡­ honestly, I am not toofortable with that thought." "Eh? You don''t like camping?" He asked, a bit shocked as he looked at me in disbelief. "This is camping?" I asked in return as I looked at him with a bit of disbelief. Looking at his expression, it seemed he really wanted to camp right now. I then sighed as I spoke,"how about this then, we find those yers and reach them. Then camp with them? That way we can get to know about their situation as well while enjoying the fun of camping as well?" It wasn''t a bad idea. I would feel a bit safer with more people in the forest than just 2 of us. "Hmmm. Well, I don''t trust them as much but¡­ given your new skill and my own arsenal¡­ All right, but I have a few conditions before we get to them," he pondered a few things before continuing, "First. We won''t show more than 1% of our capabilities. When they ask you about your skills and [Gift], don''t tell them everything. Tell them what you have told me at the beginning of our journey. Also, about your [Gift]. Tell them everything except for changing that 1000 meters per Intelligence points to 100 meters per intelligence points." "Do we really have to do that?" I asked as I didn''t exactly like it. Even though trusting them would not be the right thing to do, to hide all our capabilities to that extent wasn''t exactly a nice thing to do either. "Well. Based on the kind of life I have lived¡­ it''s better to be safe than sorry," he spoke with a smile as he then closed the hologram and spoke, "Let''s go then. I can''t waste even a single second to camp." I sighed as I nodded at his words before both of us began running towards the direction where those yers were. Even though we were getting more and more off the path, somehow it felt more closer to home than it did before where I was traveling with Alice. A smile appeared on my face as I ran beside Adrian, enjoying every moment that I was having right now. ¡­ [Location: In a random area in the forest!] "Are we really going to spend the night here?" An orange haired girl in herte 20s spoke, as she stuck close to a man in early 30s. The night of the forest was dark, making it hard for the group of yers to see anything around them. "I told you it was a bad idea to travel too far from the city?" Another man, a fat one, spoke as he cut through the forest with his sword. His eyes were carefully assessing the surroundings. "It''s not like we can go back. Ever since we have already left the group, I am honestly worried about theming at us," the other girl, a blonde, who was carrying a bow in her hand, spoke as she observed the surroundings with a narrowed look. "Are we going to be safe?" One of the two kids who were traveling with the group spoke with a fear filled voice, while the other just kept quiet as she looked around with fear in her eyes. "Don''t worry kids. It''s going to be alright," that man at the front, the leader of the group, spoke with confidence as he led the group deeper into the forest, trying to find an open spot in the forest where they could set a camp. "Hey¡­ I think I see a light there," the scout girl spoke as she narrowed her eyes at a distance of about a kilometer from here. The group was rmed a bit before they wondered if they should avoid them or not. "Let''s take a closer look first," the leader then decided to move closer to the light source before they all nodded and began walking slowly towards that ce. And the closer they reached, the more the scout described the details of that ce. The group was a bit surprised to hear the details until they reached closer to the fire, enough to see everything clearly with their own two eyes. "Who''s there?!" An rmed voice came from the camp around the light, as one of the kids pointed their bow in that direction. And nodding at each other, the group of yers slowly came out of hiding. "We don''t mean any harm! We just want a safe ce to stay the night!" the leader shouted as he raised both his hands and moved closer to the camp. The other kid was happily cooking some food on the camp, while he looked at the rest of the group. Wearing a ck cloak that mostly covered his entire body, he stood there observing the entire group before his eyesnded on me and he spoke, "yers?! Finally¡­ We have been traveling for so long without finding any yers¡­ thank god¡­ we are saved!" Chapter 102: [Two Pitiful Souls!] [Adrian''s POV!] "yers?! Finally¡­ We have been traveling for so long without finding any yers¡­ thank god¡­ we are saved!" I spoke out in surprise and happiness as I looked at them with a bright smile on my face. The idea was to y the ''two lost yers whose city was destroyed by the monsters'' kind of scenario here, making shre that they let us in the city and help us out while we observe how other yers are faring. Since we would probably be taking our sweet time to check out the city in the vicinity, I already informed about our situation to Alice, Boss, Nora and the Admin. They were all doing well on their own. As for others, most of the yers had begun to check out the city and the surroundings. As for the Vampires that had survived, they began doing their own things as well. Some were working in castle while others went to their home with a tearful expression. Even though I don''t think they would need it, I still gave them some directions and such through Alice which they were happily implementing in their own ns. Another thing to notice was my GM points. [GM Points: 231,908,190!] The GM points stopped somewhere around the 230 Million, as Annabeth must have stopped hunting for now. Well, I guess I can''t expect to hunt continuously for a long time. Instead, I should just focus on what I could do on my own. [Skill Points: 12,910!] Even though I shared about 4 thousand points with Mark, I still had enough to improve my skill to A-Grade for now. Not that I needed it. I kind of wanted to help Mark have at least an A-Grade skill by the end of the journey, but even with our speed, we weren''t able to get him 10,000 Skill Points. Hence when I saw the yers on the map from another city, I thought it would get us a chance to gain some skill points. "?? Are you yers too?" The man was surprised to hear my words as he observed us with a narrowed gaze before I nodded and spoke, "Yeah. Though our city was raided by strange vampire monsters all night. We two were the only one who were able to escape somehow." I then looked at the food that I prepared for 5 people. This should be enough to camp for the people here along with us as a starter, while I cook more food. Hopefully, they shouldn''t be suspicious of the fact that we were having food for 5 even though there were only 2 of us here. "Another city?" The man spoke making a relieved expression, before asking for permission to sit. I nodded as he then called out the others who were hiding and slowly they moved in closer and sat on one of the broken tree trunks. "I am n. She is Aysel. The rest are, Jean, Oliver, Leeroy. As for the kids they are-" "Rina!" The girl spoke with slight excitement. "Troy," the boy told his timidly. "I am Crowley, and he is Mark," I pointed at Mark while he looked at me slightly weirdly before we exined our situation a bit more ''properly''. We told them how Mark''s and mine [Gifts] werepatible with each other, allowing us to escape the monsters while traveling the forest safely. We were searching for any other city where we can take refuge but the entire day and night we didn''t find any, and they were the first ones we came across. Understanding our situation, they seemed to pity us a bit before the man, n, spoke,"I know that you guys must be really happy to see us, but honestly¡­ it would have been better if you hadn''t found us. We are actually on a run against yers that came in the same group as us." "???" Mark and I looked at him with a confused expression before n continued exining his story. Supposedly the group that they came with had a couple of strong people that decided to take over the city after killing the Mayor. Since the yers were stronger than the NPCs, they easily killed most of the defense force and then took control over the city before implementing their own rules andws. Not only to the NPCs, they even demanded the other yers to give them a portion of Skill Cards and such to them in exchange for living in the city. The only option the yers had was to get out of the city or follow those yers. Though things got rough when 90% of the yers decided to leave the city, which made those tyrants pretty angry. So instead of letting them go, they killed all the yers who were against them. Among those who were able to escape the city, were traveling through the forest, escaping from both the monsters and the yers as such. Later on, since there were more mouths to feed, therger group decided to cut off the smaller ones. And n''s group being a baggage were left behind to find their own path. "Reminds me of a certain someone," I sighed as I then served them all a portion of the food that I prepared. Truly camping has its own fun, everyone has their own interesting stories to tell. "Thank you¡­" n spoke as he was about to eat that food but then his eyes looked at that food before a notification appeared in front of him. [Item: Grilled Fish Bowl! Grade: C Description: A camp food made from fish. The food contains the immense joy of the cook, and slight Energy that would replenish the consumer''s vitality and mana. It will temporarily boost the Constitution and Strength of the consumer, revitalizing them to a new level. The taste has been refined and perfected to suit the consumer''s taste buds, making it sure that it gets finished up till thest drop. Effects: -Restores 50% Health Points! -Restroes 50% Mana Points! -Increases the user''s Strength and Agility by 10 for 5 minutes!] "This¡­" he looked at the description of the food that I prepared while Mark shook his head and exined,"he bought a cooking skill because he was interested in it. Don''t mind him. Also, you can have that¡­ don''t worry too much about it." Everyone observed the food that I made as if it were a precious item. Though I believed that a food is a food no matter what it does. It should be tasty and healthy. That''s all that matters. "Thank you," in the end n nodded with a humble look on his face before he began eating the food. "Tasty!" "Mmm Good!" "This is¡­!!" "!!!" Everyone seemed to be enjoying the food that I made, which made me really happy. I smiled at them as they ate the food before I gave them second portions. I saw Mark chuckling as he saw my idiotic smile before he sat with the group and talked about their lives and such. I, on the other hand, sat at a distance from where I looked at all of themughing and smiling. The previous tense atmosphere wasn''t present anymore, though looking at the map, as I saw a bunch of other yersing in our direction, I knew that this won''t exactlyst long. ''I guess, I can let Mark deal with them. He needs to have experience in dealing with situations like this,'' I pondered before the two kids moved towards me. The girl had a confident smile as usual, while the boy was shy just like before. "Thank you! That food was the best I had eaten in a week!" She spoke as she smiled brightly, while the boy also hummed at me as he nodded at the girl''s words. "You are wee. I didn''t think there would be someone so young in the second tutorial,e sit with me, tell me what''s your story," I spoke as I pointed at the empty area on the log beside me. The kids nodded before sitting there as the girl began exining about her and that boy''s story. Supposedly they were the only survivors from the first tutorial, which happened to take ce in the primary school where they were studying. While they did their best to survive, it was rather traumatic for them so they didn''t go into depth about the story. Luckily they met their parents in the safe zone, who taught them about everything that was happening. Even though their parents died early, with their children still surviving, the chances of turning the entire family''s situation still remained. And hence, the young kids here were somehow burdening the responsibility of what adults should have been taking. As for what happened in the Tutorial 4 and 5, it was pretty much the same as what n told me. "Oi! Oi! Oi! What do we have here? It smells so nice! n¡­ aren''t you going to share some with us?" And an ugly voice disturbed us as a burly man walked into the camp with a rather unpleasant smile on his face. Both the children froze in fear before they ran behind me, while n and the others stood up before taking out their weapons and pointing it at the burly man''s group. "Come on now n! You know that you can''t defeat us. No need to make things hard for you, all right? And who are they? I don''t think I have seen you before," that man continued as the others hiding in the forest began surrounding us. "Hmmm. Forget it. Let''s just take the women and the children, boss is surely gonna love this," he spoke as his eyesid on the kids behind me, especially Rina, who seemed way more terrified than anyone else here. I turned to look at the children for a few seconds before I patted their head. A constant smile was present on my face as I looked in their eyes and spoke,"it''s all right. It will be over before you know it." "Hah? What did you say?" That man spoke with an irritated voice as he moved closer to me. I pondered something before looking at Mark. "Mark. Decapitate them. I would like to ask these idiots a couple of questions." "What are you-" -Shot x 12! And before even he couldplete the sentence, Mark shot their legs at once. And all 12 of them fell on the ground without even knowing how it happened. It didn''t just shock those intruders but n''s group as well. I sighed as I observed his nonchnt expression, though I could see the hatred he was carrying for those men. "This idiot¡­ didn''t I ask you to keep it moderate?" I looked at him a bit annoyed. Though he just shrugged before answering, "They were irritating me." I sighed as I heard his answer before looking at those men crying in pain. And I shook my head before moving towards that burly man groaning in pain as he observed me with a hateful gaze. "Don''t worry. I won''t let you die that easily," I spoke ignoring all the expressions he was making, healing him fully back to peak health. [Energy Conversion: Heal!] Before a cold smile appeared on my face as I asked," you said something about making your boss happy, right? Let''s start from there, shall we?" Chapter 103: [Uninvited Guests!] [Luke''s POV!] Walking through the city, I have be trying out various sorts of delicacies that the NPCs were selling. Since most of these people were vampires, and were captured by those human NPCs, this day wh they have finally gained their freedom, they decided to dere it as a national holiday of sorts. A lot many things have happed to them, but perhaps we were in sort of a fantasy setting, they recollected themselves pretty faster than what normally should have tak days, months ev. Though it doesn''t change the fact that we could gain a lot of things today. Especially since most of the things were pretty much free for the yers. "It''s kind of nd though," I spoke as I looked at the tasteless cupcake in my hand. Since it was bright and colorful, I was expecting it to have an equally good taste but it was dry and nd, without any saltiness or sweetness in it. Still, it wasn''t a good thing to throw away food so I ded up finishing it one go before I drank some water, and looking at the night city view in front of me once again. "It''s refreshing no matter how many times I see it," I mumbled with a smile as I recalled what the NPCs have told me about this ce. ording to them, since their powers were mostly active during the day, they spt most of their day time sleeping, while the night was pretty much the most busy time in the city. "Well. Now that I havepleted the city tour, what should I do next?" I thought before my eyes reached the two NPCs at the city gates. They seemed to be arguing about something. A man, probably a 6 feet in height, ck hair and blue eyes. He seemed pretty young but based on the arm muscles and his way and behavior, I think he was pretty much a in his early 0s. Wearing a casual shirt over his ck pants, he was talking to the NPC woman beside him, who seemed to be rather irritated with him. The woman beside him had ck hair that reached upto her shoulders and eyes that seemed to be rather dark for some reason. And wearing that one piece ck dress, she looked rather charming in the night city, while she carried a ck rose in her hand as she observed her surings. Ev though they were as simple as they could be¡­ something felt odd about them. And before I knew it, I had already reached towards them, close ough to hear them arguing something. "Are you sure he wouldn''t just kill us if he finds what we are doing? He doesn''t like anyone interfering with his way of doing things, you know?" The woman spoke a bit worried as he looked at that man, who seemed pretty confidt for some reason. "It''s all right. Have I ever be wrong? I am just here to help him out," the man spoke before that woman rolled her eyes over before speaking, "As if that guy would need our help in anything. Honestly, you are just doing things to keep him in your favor, ar''t you? As long as he owes you, you can just get him to do your dirty work?" "Do you really think of me that bad of a person?" The man spoke a bit shocked. The woman walked forward without ev looking at him as she answered,"yes. I do." That man felt rather dejected before he sighed and followed behind the woman. That woman th reached closer to me, as she smiled at me¡­ Gulp. Mommy¡­ I think I am in love¡­ "Hey, Kid. Can you guide us to the castle? We are here to meet¡­ um¡­ what was his name a this time?" That woman turned a as he looked at that man, before he smiled and answered, "Adrian. Or should it be Crowley? Hmmm¡­ Kid, what''s your name?" Coming out of my stupor, I looked at that man, before I recalled what he said just now. Why were they looking for Adrian? And who is Crowley? "Can you please tell me where he is?" That woman asked as she looked deeper into my eyes before I suddly felt an urge to tell her everything. "He must be.. in the castle," I spoke with a happy expression as I looked at that girl. -Click! And by the sound of a click, I found myself standing in an empty street as I looked at the cupcake in my hand. My eyes focused on that tasteless cupcake in my hand before I slowly took a bite out of it. "It''s kind of nd," I said as I felt like it was rather too colorful for a taste that was¡­ well¡­ tasteless. I th ate up all at once before looking at the night view in front of me. "It''s kind of refreshing," I smiled as I looked at the view before I continued walking as I wondered what I should do next. Though I paused as I felt like it all had happed once. Kind of like a deja vu. "Hmmm¡­ strange," I spoke before continuing on with my walk. Forgetting the interaction with that duo, as if it never happed. ¡­ [Location: In the Kitch Area where Nora and Rosaliyah were working to make up another batch of Strawberry Pies and a few more dishes on the side!] "You sure do like strawberry pies, huh?" Rosaliyah spoke as she looked at Nora, joying the cooking process. Nora, th turned to Rosaliyah, as she answered, "It was my husband''s favorite. I used to make it for him every morning. It''s kind of a momto to remind me of him." A blush appeared on Nora''s face as she exined about her habit, while Rosaliyah just chuckled before she shook her head and continued cooking with her own work as well. "What about you? Do you have anyone you love?" Nora asked in return, making Rosaliyah pause for a momt before speaking, "There is but¡­ I shouldn''t talk about it." "Why?" Nora asked as she looked at her while carrying a bag of strawberries in her hands. Rosaliyah sighed as she gave an honest answer, "My curse will activate if I start talking about it." This made Nora pause as she looked at Rosaliyah with a surprised gaze. Ev though she understood Rosaliyah''s condition, she was still rather shocked to see that Rosaliyah was going through something like that. Th with pity filled eyes, she looked at Rosaliyah before speaking," let''s hope both of our problems should get solved soon." Rosaliyah slowly nodded, though her eyes didn''t have much hope in these regards. What she was up against¡­ she herself didn''t know the extt of power of the one that had cursed her. In a way, she was just passing time wondering what her purpose of life is really. "I was making some normal pancakes for myself along with yours. Would you like some?" Rosaliyah spoke, trying to change the conversation, but someone else gave her an answer before Nora could. "I would." Both Nora and Rosaliyah turned to look at the source of the voice as they found two people, a blue-eyed and ck haired guy standing along with a girl in ck. "You! How is¡­ this possible?" Nora spoke as she was shocked to see that man''s face. It''s as if she had se a ghost, she carefully looked at that guy with fear in her eyes. As for Rosaliyah¡­ -BOOM! She wt in for a direct killing blow at that guy. That attack hit that guy at once, blowing him into pieces while that girl simply stood there. It happed too fast for anyone to see. But Rosaliyah was more surprised than anyone else as she looked at her own hands in slight difort. It was as if it were too easy for some reason. And before she could look at that girl who came with that man¡­ -Click! Everything returned to a few momts before where the duo were facing Nora and Rosaliyah. "You! How is¡­ this possible?" Once again, Nora spoke the same thing as she looked at that guy. Though, her eyes shook as she somehow felt a difort in her heart. As if whatever was happing was wrong. Something was odd about everything. "¡­" Rosaliyah, who seemed like she saw everything that had happed, her eyes were surprised before she looked at her own two hands. She tighted her fist before releasing them, as she sighed a bit. Th she turned at that man, still smiling as much as before. She th looked next at that girl with the ck flower, observing her with a narrowed look. As if recalling somehow, her eyes shook for a brief momt. "I have heard about you. You are the 8th, right? Or were you the 7th? Heather, right? Never knew you guys could work together," she spoke with quite an irritated tone as she looked at that girl. Heather, that girl in ck, was surprised to know that this girl knows her. Though that guy just chuckled a bit before speaking, "Well. Heather, she is Lirawern''s wife. Rosaliyah, she is Heather." "Wait! Lirawern?! Hey! You didn''t tell me anything about that?!" Heather was shocked as she looked at that guy beside her, who was pretty calm about everything. And his nonchnt attitude was annoying Rosaliyah as she looked at the shocked expression of Heather, before her eyes reached that guy again. She th took a deep breath and calming herself down before speaking, "You have brought an annoying one this time, kid. Tell me¡­ Adam fucking Wesker¡­ what exactly is your objective here this time?" Chapter 104: [A Message!] [Nora''s POV!] The story goes way beyond time. It was from an era wh the tower dwellers like us used to live on our own without any disturbances from outside. At that time, there wer''t any floors as such, but a world where we lived together in harmony. Honestly, there wer''t ev roles like Admin and such. Just the fact there was a system that guided us to do a bunch of stuff here and there. Ev though we were giv orders from the system, an tity that we didn''t ev know anything about, we still followed its words without asking ev a single question. And that was because of the rewards that it provided to us. Time passed over as we reached a point where the existce of the tower started bing more appart. It all began with the division of our world into three. Namely upper floors, lower floors, and a subfloor that was somehow more refined than the others. The first one to get moreplicated was the subfloor, as it began breaking the barriers of the world, connecting itself to various dimsions and such. This sub floor waster known as the [Tutorial] of the tower where the yers first descded. The next one to form was the Lower Floor, which soon divided itself into 5 floors, which further divided into 5 sub floors, creating 5 lower floors in itself. Each of those sub floors were th partially divided into two by a thin barrier that had strange functions for both the yers and the tower dwellers. Though, as someone who couldn''t go past the first floor, I only heard the stories of what happed beyond the first floor. Still as someone who got in touch with yers rather oft, I got a couple of information about higher floors anyway. For example, how the atmosphere of the first 50 floors ispletely differt from the next floors. Also, how each couple of floors was simr in ecology and just had differt rules. It made me somewhat understand how the tower functioned. But this guy¡­ he was differt from the very start. Others may know him as the first yer in the history of the tower but I, the soul of the first floor, knew. Since I had a bit more connection to the tower than others I could sse it extremely clearly. He was an outsider. He wasn''t ev a yer. Ev though he always acted as one, he was never a yer. And he came at least a decade before the first yers arrived. For the brief amount of time he was on the first floor, he used to visit random ces on the map, making small changes here and there. Obviously the tower ssed him, and he had to run after making the minor changes to the tower. Though the fact he could interfere with the very system made me rather shocked. I was pretty cautious of him, but my husband was always happy wh he used to visit. He kind of always knew what my husband liked or hated. Made me a bit jealous as he seemed to know my husband ev better than I do. Anyways, I had heard that he has left the tutorialter. Though from a couple of reliable sources, I ev heard that he had died. Hce, I was shocked to see him standing here right now, smiling so nonchntly like that. And more importantly¡­ Who is that girl with him? I feel a strange ergying off from her. "You have brought an annoying one this time, kid. Tell me¡­ Adam fucking Wesker¡­ What exactly is your objective here this time?" I looked at Rosaliyah speaking as she observed the duo with a narrowed gaze. ''Does she know Adam?'' I thought as I looked at her with a curious gaze. "Come on Rosaliyah. Don''t look at me like that. It''s not like I killed you or something?" He spoke with a smile, making Rosaliyah give out a cold smile. The atmosphere turned rather chilly as I saw Rosaliyah barely controlling herself from pounding Adam into pieces. "Wait!" And that girl, I think her name was Heather, she gave a sudd narrowed look to Adam as she continued speaking, "Didn''t you once said that you had revived Lirawern''s wife a couple of times? Don''t tell me, you were the fucker who killed her in the first ce?" "¡­" "¡­" Both I and Heather looked at him nkly as he observed the chilly gaze of Rosaliyah and spoke, "Skip the minor details, will you?" Minor? "ARE YOU FREAKING CRAZY??!!!! ENCHANTRESS WOULD FUCKING KILL US IF YOU KILL HER TOY''S ONLY WEAKNESS!!! ADAM!!!" Heather freaked out as she looked at Adam with a narrowed gaze. I could feel the tsion rising here, as I gulped before Adam sighed and spoke, "I had no choice all right. You must understand that it was the only way to protect the tower from breaking back th. Don''t ask me the details cause the less people know about it the better." Ev though he seemed to be pretty guine, why do I feel like he is lying? Hmmm¡­ strange. "And isn''t she alive, right now? That''s what matters in the d, doesn''t it?" He added in the d. "Dying isn''t really the best feeling, you fucker," Rosaliyah spoke out, though she seemed to be a bit more calmer than before. The one who was the most troubled right now was Heather, the girl who came with Adam. "Well. It''s not like I have died. So I don''t know about that," Adam spoke as he shrugged his shoulders a bit. My eyes narrowed as I once again felt something odd about his words. Or was it the way he was speaking? ''I don''t know. It''s not like he spoke anything out ofmon sse,'' I sighed as I kept feeling strange every time he spoke. It was the same as wh he was with my husband. "Adam¡­ why are we here really? I am telling you, I don''t want to do anything with Enchantresses," Heather seemed rather afraid of this ''Enchantress''. I wonder who she is? "I am here to pass on something that would help you guys. Or to be precise, it will help him in his journey," he spoke as he took out a strange metallic ball out of his pocket. Throwing it at Rosaliyah, he the continued speaking, "Give it to Crowley. He will know what to do with it." A nostalgic smile was prest on his face. "Why not give it by yourself?" Rosaliyah asked as she observed that ball. Though it seemed like she didn''t find anything strange about that ball, she gave up trying to analyze it before keeping it in her pocket. "Well. There is a limit to how much I am allowed to interfere. Ev though he doesn''t really need my help, this should help him skip a couple of minor stepster on," Adam spoke before pondering a bit and th looking at Heather who had her eyes narrowed at him. She th asked, "Are you sure we should be doing this? I am telling you he will kill uster¡­ Adam. For real." "Don''t worry too much about it. We are going to take care of that next. On that note, we will be taking our leave now," Adam spoke as he observed Rosaliyah and th looked at me. "Nice to see you doing good Nora. Still loving the Strawberry Pie, I see," he smiled at me before looking at Rosaliyah and th speaking, "As for the price for killing you 7 times in total, I will pay it with a single message from a certain God of Irrationality." 7 times? Damn! "My wife. My darling. I hope you are doing well. I miss you," Adam spoke as he slowly walked outside, with Heather still having a doubtful expression on her face as she kept asking Adam various questions about a certain ''he'' that I did not know of. Though he seemed to be rather important giv how Heather was seemingly worried about ''him''. "Hey Rosaliyah-" I was about to ask Rosaliyah a couple of questions but before I could do so, I saw Rosaliyah standing with a nk expression. A couple of tears escaped her eyes, as she had her mouth op while she kept looking into the empty space in front of her. Th a smile appeared on her face as she blushed while bringing her hand close to her heart. I recalled the message from Adam, which made me wonder¡­ was it from her Husband? "I miss you too, Lirawern," she mumbled slowly as her tire face turned red with embarrassmt before she covered it with her hands. I wanted to ask her a couple of questions regarding everything that had just happed, but since she was tirely lost in her happy thoughts, I sighed before smiling as I th began cooking that strawberry pie again. My eyes momtarily turned towards the empty space from where Adam left, before I sighed as a memory surfaced in my mind. Reminded me of the times that he used to visit my husband. I don''t know how he does that but it seems as if always knows what to speak to him, to make him calm down, or perhaps be grateful towards him for the most part. Looking at Rosaliyah so happy right now with that one message, it made me smile as well. I guess, him visiting here wasn''t really a bad thing considering how the interaction started. "All this tsion made me ev more hungry," I sighed as I began preparing ev more portions of the strawberry pie. A constant smile was prest on my face as I hummed and continued working. Chapter 105: [Authority Level 6!] [Adrian''s POV!] [Authority: 4 -> 6] [Game Master''s ID: Adrian John Rodriguez/??? Username: Unnamed Authority Level: 6 (Upgrade Cost: 0,000,000 GM) Currt GM Points: 3,49,] [Privilege : The Game Master can see All the Quests Prest on the currt Level without any hidd information about the currt server and adjact ones! He can partially view the information of every item prest in the Tower!] [Privilege : The Game Master can bet on the yers prest in the currt Level and other servers!] [Privilege 3: Allows the GameMaster to Adjust the rules of all things Equivalt to GM Points spt! As long as it does not break the boundaries of the tower, anything can be adjusted!] [Privilege 4: Allows the GameMaster to [Contract] a yer, NPC, geral Floor Managers, Admins, Rankers and give them [Blessing!] [Skill!] [Title!] [Coins!] [Curses!] [Punishmt!]. The Game master can also sd public messages to those a the Contracted person.] [Privilege 5: Allows the GM to view all the quests of the next Evt!] [Privilege 6: Allows the GM to Add any form of quest in the scario as long as it''s not a main Quest! The Game master can change the description of the Main Quest as long as it doesn''t vite any rules!] [Skill: Debug!] [Item: Game Master''s Key!] [Privilege 7: The Game Master Control Panel has be unlocked!] [New!] [Privilege 8: The Game Master Floor Panel has be unlocked!] [New!] Since I had some extra points to spd, I decided to upgrade the [Authority] of the Game Master System. Giv the amount of GM points that I had, it seemed the right thing to do. Though I wondered if I should up it once more since I had the amount in my pocket. Though I decided to check out the two things that I have unlocked right now. [The Game Master Control Panel!] [Time Control: Increase/Decrease the Time of everything prest in the tower. Currt Limit: Can increase/decrease the amount of time by % GM points required to increase the limit: 0 GM points!] [NPC control: Make Changes to the NPCs within the tower Currt Limit: -You can increase/decrease the strgth of the NPCs by 5% -[Authority Level 8 Required!] -[Authority Level Required!] -[Authority Level 6 Required!] GM Points required to increase the Limit: 0GM Points!] [yer Control (Authority Level 7 Required)!] [Game Setting Control (Authority Level Required!] [Tower Setting Control (Authority Level 6 Required!] "¡­" I looked at that scre with a nk expression before pouring a bit of GM points into increasing the Limit of what was unlocked. [Time Control: Increase/Decrease the Time of everything prest in the tower. Currt Limit: Can increase/decrease the amount of time by 60% GM points required to increase the limit: ,000,000 GM points!] [NPC control: Make Changes to the NPCs within the tower Currt Limit: -You can increase/decrease the strgth of the NPCs by 30% -[Authority Level 8 Required!] -[Authority Level Required!] -[Authority Level 6 Required!] GM Points required to increase the Limit: ,000,000GM Points!] As usual the cost increased by t times each time I increased the limit. Though looking at the function, it was honestly worth it. Still, it is going to cost a fortune if I want to increase it a few more levels further. ''Let''s leave that to the future. For now, let''s observe the other Privilege that I unlocked,'' I pondered before observing the [The Game Master Floor Panel!]. [The Game Master Floor Panel!] [Floor - Controls!] [Floor -0 Controls!] [Floor -30 Controls!] . . [Floor 9-0 Controls!] Oping up [Floor -!], I saw that it was subdivided into 5 more panels with each alternate Floor in one panel. Oping up the [Floor -!], I looked at the panels that appeared in front of me. [Floor - Difficulty: Moderate Enemies Prest: [Goblins: Normal] [Fanged Wolves: Normal!] [Ogres: Normal!] [Ogres: TwinHeaded!] [Goblins: Forest!]¡­. Main Boss: [King of Thieves (Level )] Sub Quests: [Save the Forest Elf!] [Protect the Lost child!] [Bandits of the Lost Path!]¡­ Main Quest Line: [Find the Lost Arcadian Gem!] Theme of the Floor: Natural Wonders Restrictions: None Time Limit: None Number of tries a yer can take: Unlimited! Block List: [Empty!] Misceneous: [Area Panel] [Search Panel] [Flora Panel] [Fauna Panel!]¡­] [Increase your Authority Level to 8 to make any Floor Changes in this section!] ''Hmmm. Ev though I can''t really do anything about the floor itself, just with the fact that I now know everything about the first floor is already a big boost,'' I thought as a smile appeared on my face. I was tempted to upgrade the Authority by another level but for now, I decided to wait until it increases to at least 500 Million. Let''s just observe the currt situation in our hands. I closed the Game Master Panel before looking at those bastards that were almost brok now. Ev though they were breathing, they were too terrified to ev speak a word. Though it wasn''t me or Mark who was responsible for that, but rather the group that came to camp with us. Since I had the power, I let them deal with the thugs as I stripped away most of their power though I never imagined the calm looking weak people to be this ferocious against their fellow humans. Was it revge? Yes. It is perhaps right after what the bandits did to the other yers and NPCs. If I keep both points of view in check, the bandits will surely turn out to be the worst kind of humans that actually deserve worse than what these campers have done to them. "What should we do now?" That man, n, looked at me hopefully but it wasn''t my ce to speak anything. The only reason that I got involved was because of the childr here. Otherwise I have no problem pretding to be weak. Though looking at Mark, who had aplex expression on his face, I sighed a bit. I wanted him to get exposed to the cruelty of the world but now that I have done it¡­ I wonder if it was the right thing to do? "Mark. You okay?" I asked with a bit of concern. Mark looked at me with a thoughtful gaze before he slowly nodded. "It disgusts me¡­ what this whole game has turned us into¡­ it disgusts me really," he spoke out as he calmed down ev more. "Though I guess, it''s something I should get used to, right?" He added with a smile that seemed to be hiding a lot of pain in it. I mean I can understand where he ising from but still, he was wrong. It''s not that this game has turned humanity into something bad but rather it brought them closer to their instincts. And to be fair, there were many who were disgusting ev during the time before this tutorial apocalypse started. ''Well. I can''t really tell him that though. Let''s just keep things going as they are,'' I sighed before nodding at Mark as I spoke, "I''ll let you take the lead in whatever is going on here. If you need any help, I''ll be there, though try to make decisions on your own here." Personally, I can wipe all the yers inside the city by myself. But this is something that would be a proper way for Mark to grow up from his naive mindset. If he can do that, th maybe I can sd him a contract as well? "I want to¡­ see things with my own eyes," Mark spoke as he reached a decision on his own. It was a good thing in my eyes. Many would really break from everything that was going on. ''We are already starting on a positive note, huh? That''s nice,'' I smiled as I nodded before looking at the rest of the campers there. "Talk with him and guide him back to the city," I said as I put my cloak on and erased my presce using the [Illusion!] skill. "I will be keeping an eye on whatever is going on but don''t expect me to interve unless it is really necessary," I added after I vanished from there. They were all surprised but th recalling how I handled those m before, they calmed down before moving towards Mark. As they discussed their problems further, I began checking the newer privileges in more detail. There were many things that seemed useful and if I could increase my Authority at least times more, I could perhaps influce a lot of things here. ''It would take some time though,'' I thought before a certain idea popped up in my mind. While it may not exactly be the best way to do things, if I am careful, perhaps I can kill birds with one stone? And with that in mind, I added an additional feature to [Twin Guns!] that I had with me. [-Allows the user to teleport to each of the guns and vice versa at the cost of km per ergy used!] [Would you like to make the following changes for Million GM Points?] ''Costly!'' My eyes wided as I observed it but th again, I had like 5,000 Energy, so doesn''t that mean I can travel 5,000Km in a second as long as I have that weapon on the other side? ''All right. Here goes nothing,'' I thought as I pressed [Yes!] since it was a good investmt. It could boost my overallbat, while increasing my utility as well. Plus, I can call it back with a mere thought if I want to as well, no matter how far it is. Moving closer to Mark, I th ced one of the guns before changing it into a sword, into his backpack. "Keep one of my swords with you. I will be checking the perimeter for now." He was rmed at my sudd call but th hearing any words he calmed down as he slowly nodded before continuing his talk with the campers. And now that I have nted a temporary teleport point, I can go off to increase the grade of my [Gift!] ev more. It''s about time, we reached the [Upper Mortal Grade!] of my [Gift!] Chapter 106: [Mortal Grade-0!] -Whoosh! -Whoosh! "WOOOHOOOO!" I shouted as I ran through the forest at an insane speed. -sh! -sh! Killing hundreds of monsters in my path, I kept moving forward as fast as I could. Previously, I was limiting my speed because of Mark, but now that I was on my own, I was fully exploiting the [Kic Mastery!]. Combining it with [The One!], I was able to increase my speed to at least 3-4 times before, reaching the speed past 700 kmph, covering dozens of kilometers each minute. [Your Gift: Cartography Has been Upgraded by 1] [Your Gift: Cartography Has reached Mortal Grade 0] [Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type) Grade: Mortal Grade-2 Major Grade up Requirement: Map Out an Entire World/Floor! Effect: -Allows the user to make a detailed Map of everything that he has captured with the skill [Mapping!] -The user can now create a hologram to show the Map to others. -The user can now Add one of his skills tobine with the Gift! The functions will be adjusted ording to the [Gift]! -Unlocked Skills: [Mapping!] [Perfect Measurement!] [Eidetic Memory!] [Spatial Sense!] [Creator''s Dexterity!] ] I realized that I hadpleted the final requirement as well, though I didn''t get another skill as I was expecting. Instead, I just got an absurd requirement to get to the next grade. ''Sigh,'' I was disappointed a bit before I looked to see if there were any changes to the skills themselves. [Skill: Mapping! Grade: A-Grade (Directly Connected with the Gift: Cartography) Effects: -Allows the user to map a distance of 10 Kilometers around the user with urate precision! -Allows the User to Map as far as he can see with basic Precision!] [Skill: Perfect Measurement! Grade: A (directly depend upon the Grade of the Gift: Cartography) Effect: -Allows the user to perfectly measure the dimension and motions of all 3D objects which he sees! -Allows the user to perfectly calcte the amount and type of energy an object has! -Allows the user to determine all forms of variation that could ur in a process in front of him! -Anything that the user has seen or sensed, can be taken as a standard and multiple calctions can be done within a second without any difficulties] [Skill: Eidetic Memory! Grade: A Effects: Allows the user to remember and recall everything with great precision! Anything that the user has sensed or thought can be urately described without any difficulty! Additional Effect: The User Will Be able to recall necessary information by instincts whenever he requires it!] [Gift: Spatial Sense Grade: A (directly proportional to the gift: Cartography) Effect: Allows the user to have spatial awareness of anything and everything around him in a radius of 2 Kilometers! All forms of energies can be sensed by the user!] [Skill: Creator''s Dexterity Grade: A (Linked with the Gift: Cartography) Effects: -Allows the user to draw or recreate anything that he has seen. -Increases the depth of intrication the user can perform with his hands! -The user can create any A-Grade or lower artifacts as long as he has seen the process once! Additional effects: Maps drawn by the user cannot be destroyed by anyone weaker than the User himself!] §®@?*?¦®??$?§Á ''Qualitative and Quantitative change, huh?'' I thought it was better than getting nothing. Though the fact that I needed to map the entire world, made me question exactly how big is this world? Since our world had a surface area of roughly around 550 Million Square Kilometers, if it were anything like that I would give up. After all, even if I am traveling at 1000 km per hour, covering 20k sq Km in area each over, it would take more than 3 years for me toplete it. ''Though¡­'' I then checked something fascinating in the [The Game Master Floor Menu!] [Floor 1-2] [Total Area: 2,000,000 Square Kilometers!] ''It seems to be more doable than that,'' I sighed as I closed the [Gift!] menu. There wasn''t any indirect way to increase the [Gift!] anymore so I guess, I should just leave this forter. I really wanted to get it to [Upper Mortal], though. Maybe I should look into itter? Anyways, with that done, what should I do next? "Hmmm. I have 2 S-Grade Skills now. I would need about half a billion GM Points for another S-Grade skill," I thought for a few seconds before looking at my [Body] once again. [Body: Triple-Equilibrium Heavenly Body Grade: A Description: The Body of a being whose 3 of 5 sides have formed aplete harmony with each other. Their limits have been pushed to their peak and beyond, allowing the being to perform feats at a heavenly level. Effects: Harmony of Energy: -For every 1 point in intelligence, the user''s Energy increases by 100 -Allows the user to convert his energy into any form at a ratio of 1:1. Harmony of Body: -Increases the Base Physical Stats of the User by 150 -The Constitution to Health Ratio has been readjusted to 1:100. -When the user exerts a pressure on any of his stats, he can increase that particr stat by 100% at the cost of 50% reduction of other 3 Stats. Harmony of Mind: -Base Wisdom of the user increases by 100 -All Energy/Wisdom Based skills of the User have their overall effect and duration increased by 100%. And their cooldown reduced by 50%. Triple Harmony State: Once every 30 Days, the user can attain an enhanced state, going beyond the normal realm. For 10 minutes, all the powers that the user have will be increased by a factor of 10, and the cooldown of all skills will be reduced to 0. ] My eyes looked through the description once again, and found something that I was looking for. Especially the, [3 of the 5 Sides]. Since mental, physical and energy was already given, I was wondering what could the other two be? And before I knew it, a certain piece of information appeared in my mind. Something about the [Soul] of a person. If I remember correctly, many of the races that are present on the tower have the capability to look directly into the soul of a person and make any changes. ''Though since they were people that mostly resided in the higher floors, I had decided to check itter on. But looking at the way things are stagnant, I wonder if I can look into it?'' I pondered as I tried a couple of things. At first it was rted to the skills, and the weapons, but the more I tried it, the more I got confused. I mean, there were some debuff skills, protection skills and even a few attack skills, but nothing out of ordinary except for their prices. If a normal F-Grade attack skill costs about 500 GM points, then the soul skill of the same type costs 2000 GM points. Though other than that, I couldn''t find any major differences to be honest. In the end, due tock of information, I had to close down the window and sit down for a moment as I questioned what I should do next. I looked through the entire System, and the Game Master System, and there were a few things which I could have done, but in the end, nothing was there that could go make my heart doki doki, right now. ''Sigh. Such boredom,'' I let myself fall for a few seconds on the ground as I looked at the starry night. A beautiful view appeared in front me as I smiled looking at what was in front of me. And as I looked at what my eyes could see, I then questioned a couple of things that I would normally do on a lonely night. "What could be the best way to live?" I asked. Back then, it was either to seed in life financially and live off as rich as possible, or the other way around to live in farnd or mountains as far away as possible from the society. Though both needed enough skill that would set you capable enough to be the ''different one'' from a normal human. But now, another option has appeared in the answers. And that was to be happy in the end where things were normal and simpler. In a way, it was a cliche but honestly, I don''t want to work a lot in myter life. The power that I needed to live the previous life is in my hands, but life itself has changed so much that something so simple is so far out of my reach. Kind of Ironic. I then sighed as I closed my eyes for a few seconds, wondering if I should sleep here without any care or concern. But then again, that''s a luxury I can hardly afford right now. Maybeter in the Safe Zone, I will take a few days break from all this, just to sleep properly. My eyes once again opened up as I looked at the guy standing at the top of the tree. His eyes were observing me, perhaps analyzing me, and I created an illusion that I was stillying on the ground, while I stood up and observed him. Though as if he could see through my illusion, he looked at me, ignoring the ''me'' that wasying on the ground. Wearing a ck¡­ smoke like dress that covered most of his body, he observed me carefully. His eyes and hair were pretty dark, and if not for my enhanced senses, it would be impossible for me to even see him. "Tch!" He spoke before he mumbled something silently. And then looking at me with an irritated expression he spoke again, "Your life and death energy sucks." And then he vanished from there as I just kept observing him. "¡­" The heck happened? Chapter 107: [Mark: Side Quest Complete!] [Adrian''s POV!] "You are back?" Mark spoke as I used that teleportation ability of the weapon to get back to him. I undid my [Illusion!], as I looked at everything around me, most of the things were already settled. The NPCs were free. The Bandits were dead. "Yeah. Too chilly out there," I answered as I recalled that shadow guy once again before shaking my head as I looked at the situation around me. We were at the center of the town, standing around a grandfire. There were a dozen NPCs anda a few more yers who were talking among themselves about the bandit yers that were currently kept tied there, and a few more burned in that grand fire. "We were discussing what to do with the other bandits, but since it wasn''t my ce to interfere, I let these yers and NPCs make the decision," Mark spoke as he sighed while standing at a distance from there. "Were you the one who dealt the most damage?" I asked as I wanted to confirm something, though gave a slight paused look at me before he sighed and answered," yes. I did the most damage." "And how was the response of those NPCs?" I asked another question. "They were scared of me. Even now they are wary of me," he answers, though it seemed as if he were expecting that already. "Is that so?" I muttered as I put my hand on my chin while I looked at the map for the other NPCs and yers around here. There wasn''t much of what''s left, but there were still about a 1000 or more people total here. "n," I called that guy who got us here, and observing me, his eyes were surprised for a moment before he moved closer to me. "Crowley, you are back?" He asked with a slight smile and I nodded before speaking,"call me Crow. Tell me, who is the leader of the NPCs? And who is the one with the most power among the yers?" His eyes went to Mark for a moment before I sighed and corrected him,"not Mark. Among you lot." His eyes went ''Ah!'' Before he spoke,"that would be Gilthunder. He is currently talking with the son of the Mayor of the Town." "Call both of them here," I spoke as I looked at him with a serious look before he nodded and went towards the group of NPCs that were talking among themselves. Calling out two specific people from that group, he brought them towards me and Mark. Mark observed me with a curious look, while I waited for them to reach me. "Who are you? Sir Mark. Is he with you?" The guy, Gilthunder, spoke as he observed me from top to bottom. He had a bit of golden hair with ck stripes, while he seemed to be more of an arrogant type of guy, who had grown cautious after getting a bitter crushing defeat. "Big brother Mark. Can we trust him?" The mayor''s son, a guy barely 16, asked as he looked at me with a lot of caution. Though looking at how he had support from the other NPCs that surrounded us, it seemed like he was trusted by the NPCs a lot. Good. This would do. chapter-hosted-on-MVLeMpYr "First, let''s heal everyone who is injured," I spoke out as I looked at everyone around here. [The One!] It took about a 1000 energy to heal everyone but with this everyone present was easily healed to their max health. Their fatigue, depression, anxiety, everything was cured. A couple of NPCs, who had some form of severe disease, were alsopletely cured in an instant. "What?" "What is going on?!" "My-My Curse? It''s gone! I am finally free!!!!" "I don''t feel pain anymore!! Hahaha! I am cured!" Didn''t take even a few seconds as everyone was rejoicing at the sudden event, while I looked at the Mayor''s son, and that yer, Gilthunder, for a few moments. And then sighing, I spoke out, "With this, hopefully you would be ready to listen to me, right?" Their eyes looked at me as if I were an Angel or something. I thought they would be weirded out or scared for someone to have this kind of absurd power, but I guess, people can surprise you with positivity? Although¡­ "What the heck are you?" Mark spoke as he looked at me with an odd expression. "¡­" Why are you the one weirded out of all the people? Ignoring him, I then looked at the Mayor''s son as I spoke," rebuild the city and set a path towards the east, as far as possible, reaching the boundary of this world. I know this would take some time, but it''s necessary if you want to survive the changes that the world is going to go through." "Are you¡­ a messenger of God?" The mayor''s son asked as his eyes widened in realization, while I sighed before wondering for a few seconds. In a way, I would probably be the savior of your God¡­ but that could be taken as sphemy so let''s not say that. "You can say that I know her," I answered ambiguously, which made them widen their smiles before they nodded rapidly. To be honest, it wasn''t a random bullshit that I said but a necessary path if I want to connect the two worlds to the safe zone. Not directly, I mean, but through trades and other stuff. With the help of the Admin, I was able to locate the direction of that Rift that connects this ce to the safe zone, but by some stroke of fate, it was in a deeper forest area where civilisation rarely thrived. ''About 4000 Km east from here,'' I recalcted that distance before sighing as it would take ages to build a road to that ce. Though if they happen to find more traces of cities and such, they should be able to increase their speed as well. "If possible, create a path that can be used for trade. Also, if you find any major or minor cities on the way, and any form of civilization, then try to set a camp there and expand that camp enough for a 1000 people to thrive. You don''t have to do it all at once, but try to do it as fast as possible," I said without much expectation. But then again we were in a fantasy world so who knows they might finish the task much faster? The Mayor Nodded before he took my permission and left from there. I then turned to Gilthunder and asked, "What are you guys going to do? Seems to me that you got a pretty big group to handle." He turned silent for a moment before speaking," I want to finish the tutorial and go back home. Though all we got was to protect the city, so I think we are going to do that for now. Since your city got destroyed¡­ did you receive anything from that quest?" So they got a simr quest, huh? "To be honest, our city is fine. Just that we both were bored so we set out to see the outside world and hunt some monsters while at it," I smiled as I answered him. His eyes widened before a smile appeared on his face as he rxed. "Thank God. I thought we would too face some strong monsters and die. If guys like you had to run, one can only think of the strength of the monsters," he gave out a dry chuckle before weughed as well. Well. I guess, it was obvious to have that line of thought. "Anyways, we will be going back now. I don''t know much about it, but if you can find an NPC named Alice, and a lost dog called Bark, then I think you might get a hidden quest or something. Should keep you upied for the moment," I gave him a hint as I saw the [Hidden Quests] of this ce. They were good quests that would be helpful for his group, but mostly they were useless for me, so I called a pass on them. Anyways, looking at Mark who seemed more mature than before, I guess we call it a fruitful adventure. "Shall we go back now?" I asked Mark and he nodded. He was tired as well, and perhaps wanted a break from this ''adventuring'' we were doing. "Are you guys leaving? Can we go as well?" "Please! We want to go with you!" The two kids spoke out as they reached closer to us. Were they listening to our conversation? Probably. I turned towards them, as I patted their head before squatting to their eye level. "You guys are needed here more than with us. Plus, given how we do our thing, you can get in danger a lot," I spoke as their eyes turned sad. Though I sighed before speaking, "How about this? I wille meet you in Tutorial and help you find a ce in one of my groups? If you can survive this tutorial, I believe you should be able to get strong enough to be a part as well. And even if you are not, I will provide you a ce which you can call home." Their smiles returned as they looked at me with joy and hope. "Really?!!" They both spoke at once before I nodded at them. "Now. Let'' me give you both a gift¡­ though keep it a secret, okay?" I spoke as I looked at the 9 skills they both had in total. Each of them were D-Grade at best and E-Grade at worst. [Would you like to make the total changes for 17 Million GM Points?] And spending some extra points, I pushed all of those skills to [B-Grade] each. It''s a liability, and I might get targetedter on as someone who was capable of increasing other people''s skills. Though¡­ ''I can easily turn all the rumors towards the [Skill: Deconstructor!], that would increase my overall fame,'' I smiled as I looked at my Advertiesm- I mean the kids. "Let''s go now," Mark asked and I nodded before speaking," all right. See you guyster," before we moved back towards the city where Alice and the others were. Chapter 108: [A Slow Week!] [Location: Within the city where the tutorial started!] [Adrian''s POV!] Standing at the top of the clock tower, I looked around the city once more. It has been a week since we have freed the Vampires and a couple of things have urred since then. "I got another one here!" A yer shouted as he captured the golden glowing ball with an ice rted magic. The others moved forward to kill that ball thingy with a dark magic, evaporating it into dust. They were the [Consumers]. A kind of being that takes birth at random ces within the city and attacks everyone randomly. Though, the fact that it gave 10 skill points to each yer who has damaged it even once made it a rather rewarding target, opposite to what it was intended to be. ''Well. At least there is some excitement in this boredom,'' I thought as I looked at the [Continuity Quests!] Once again. It was mentioned in the [Continuity Quests!] that they would appear, so it wasn''t much of a shocker to me. Though, the [Watch Dogs of the Sun God!] that were supposed toe as well, did not appear, unlike how they are supposed to. ''I guess that white God must have done something,'' I gave it a thought before putting it to the back of my mind as well. As for my party members¡­ Killing the Royal Guards, Invar gained a skill upgrade coupon and a 1000 skill points, while Boss got the title of [Saviour] since she was the one to deal thest blow to Prince Rehan. Others also gained a lot of skill points from that event so it was a win win situation for all. As for me, I did get something but it wasn''t exactly a reward. [Quest: Last Hope of Reiga! Difficulty: Insane Description: As the Fallen Vampire Prince Lincoln has started recovering his strength, he still needs his lost fragments to gain hisplete power. Though that isn''t all he is going to need in order to survive the war that is about toe. It would need an army to fight with an army. Objective: -Find the Lost 4 Fragments of the Vampire Prince and help him gain back hisplete power! [0/4] -Help the Vampire Prince to reestablish his kingdompletely! [Completed] -Make sure that the people here regain their prime health and are prepared for the iing war! [Completed!] -Collect 1000 Soldiers that could fight! [723/1000] Time Limit: ??? Reward: Chain Quest [A War of the Two Worlds!]] It''s not like the quest itself was difficult orplex. But rather than doing it in a hurry by myself, I instead sent some of my trusted yers to the ces where the [Fragments] were. Julia and the group went to the eastern forest area, while Alice, Mark, Alex, Luke and Percy went to the west desert region. Boss and the others were visiting the Northern mountains as I marked the location of the fragments. As for thest fragment, it was somewhere down south where I was going to visit after the other three were collected. ''Everything is going smoothly,'' I sighed before I looked at the metallic ball in my hand. It was given to me by a ''certain someone who knows me''. Normally I wouldn''t care much about something like that but¡­ [Item: World Connector! Grade: Ex Effects: Increases the connection of the User to the World by 50%, allowing him to partially take control of the world he is in. Limit: This item can only be used once!] ''It''s as if it was tailor made for this situation,'' I narrowed my eyes at the description before I wondered who could be that person who gave me this item? I did ask Rosaliyah, but all she answered was, ''If you don''t know it yet, then it''s probably something you shouldn''t know yet. I don''t know how he does his things, but I don''t want to interfere so I won''t tell. That bastard is¡­ unique but not really a bad person. So wait until he himself appears and tells you everything.'' Though that doesn''t stop making me feel uneasy at all. Free help is often the most costly thing in this world. ''I should be careful,'' I decided before keeping that item in my inventory. It was important to look into but I have no lead to start with¡­ As for what I have been doing for the past week can be answered with this¡­ [GM Points: 1.3 Billion!] [Skill Points: 263,121!] While the skill points were my doing, the GM Points mostly came from Annabeth. I was keeping an eye on her through the [Contract] Screen, and looking at how she was fighting at the 40th Floor right now, I guess it won''t be long till she reaches the 46th Floor and meets that Leader guy. In a way, her fast growth kind of made me proud of her. She was reaching her full potential, and that wide smile that never vanished from her face, made me smile even more. I guess it was worth making Contract with her. Perhaps the next time we will meet, I will ask her more about what kind of she was from and how was her life there. My eyes then once again moved back to the number of GM Points and the skill points that I had right now. ''It''s always fun to see the number increasing,'' I chuckled a bit before calming my excitement down. A smile was present on my face as I looked at that number. It was beautiful¡­ though I then looked at the [Skills] that I had and questioned what I should upgrade next? Honestly, it was always a dilemma to do that¡­ though this time¡­ I knew what I had to upgrade. The main motive of this tutorial was to increase all my Skills to at least A-Grade, which I already did and I was steadily moving towards S-Grade next. But then¡­ I recalled the two events that had happened before. One was in the forest with that duo who had ''white'' color on the map. They were anything but weak. And the other incident was with that shadow guy who could trace me even with the Illusion. ''No matter how I see it, there are beings that I can''t fathom the power of. For some reason, I don''t think it''s just the [Heroes] and [Viins] that I needed to be worried about,'' I mumbled as I had a grim expression on my face. Despite being so strong, I felt weak right now. There was this uneasiness that I couldn''t just let go of¡­ So what I needed the most right now was protection. A strong protection against any sudden attack that could kill me. It was something that I deemed the most necessary, all the more because I don''t have that [Ring of Resurrection!] with me anymore. And the answer to that was¡­ [Absolute Nullification!] It was a life saving skill that I got from the Dungeon, which made things much easier for me, many times. But now I need it to be even more powerful than that. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, the cost to increase the grade of this skill was 250,000 Skill points, about 2.5 times more than normal. That''s the reason I was still saving the skill points rather than upgrading any of the skills. Though one thing was sure, if the cost is this much then the increase is that much more valuable. Pouring all the points in, I then looked at the upgraded skill once more with a smile forming on my face. [Skill: Absolute Temporal Counter Grade: S Effect: Whenever the user is attacked, the time-line shifts, sending the user 3 seconds prior to when the attack was ced! That attack will be 100% nullified while the user will have all the information about the attack, the direction of the attack and the location of the attacker. Additional effects: For 5 seconds, after the skill activates, the user gainsplete Invincibility against that targer''s attacks. Remark: This Skill has been Modified by an external means to activate against nom-Tower Resedential Threats!] ''Ah! Perfect!'' I smiled as I looked at that skill. It was everything that I needed right now, and thinking about the possibilities, I smiled even more. It wasn''t just a defense skill that would allow me to counterattack my attacker but it would help me even escape from a threat if the opponent is too strong. I guess, with this, I should be able to handle most of the situations even if they are risky. ''That makes it my 3rd S-Grade skill,'' I smiled before removing [Hunt!] and [Aura!] from the skill section for 200 Million GM Points. Although they were good, given my current situation, they were pretty much useless. And will be even more useless as I will gain more S-Grade skills. The number of GM points I had were a lot but for some reason, I wasn''t motivated to increase my skills anymore. Or to be precise I wanted a new skill that was different from what I had right now. Something that would keep the excitement going on. see-more-MVLeMpYr From all the things that I had, whether it were weapons or skills, or [Body], or even [Gift!], they had reached the point where I have more than enough. Maybe I will need themter on, but right now? I don''t think I do. So, the question is¡­ what should I do now? And my skill [Eidetic Memory!] came into y again as I recalled a certain piece of information before a smile appeared on my face. The next skill that I was going to make was¡­ [Skill: Psychometry! Grade: A Effects: -Complete Memory Recall: Instead of just sensing vague impressions or emotions from objects, the user can extract detailed andplete memories from people or objects, like watching a movie of the past. -Memory Diving: Dive intoyers of memories¡ªboth conscious and subconscious¡ªunlocking forgotten or repressed events, secrets, or traumas from an object or individual''s past. -Emotional Reliving: Not only can you see the events, but also experience the emotions tied to those memories, allowing you to understand the full emotional context of past events.] [Would you like to create the skill for 231 Million GM Points?] I clicked [Yes!] before I took out a certain artifact that I had with me. I doubt people can tell me a lot of things but.. it''s different if it were objects like weapons or artifacts. It was going to be fun witnessing the stories that the artifacts tell¡­ especially this [World Connector!] that I got from that unknown person. Also¡­ I wonder if the weapons created by the Game Master System have any stories to tell? Chapter 109: [Side Quests!] [Location: Far North from the city, Alpine Eversnow Mountains!] "How much more?" Avida asked as she was barely walking up the mountain slope. "Almost there," Levi answered for the 17th time as he observed the map location. The group has been traveling for the past 3 days and has finally reached the destination that Adrian had provided them. Though looking at the barrennd in front of them, they all wondered if this was the end of the journey or not? They had faced various monsters on their way and collected skill cards ranging from F-Grade to C-Grade. Even though they were kind of prepared to face a B-Grade monster, they had yet to encounter one. ording to Adrian, there were 7 B-Grade monsters here that they needed to be careful of. But as long as they can take care of them, they shouldn''t have any problem dealing with this ce. "Let''s camp here. I will check out the perimeter," Evelin spoke as she checked the area giving it a quick look before turning to Levi. "I will leave it to you, Levi," she spoke before she vanished from there while the group nodded. "I think we should get another person in the group. Someone who can do all the utility stuff," Levi spoke as he began setting up the camp. Even though he was capable of doing that, he wasn''t exactly suited for this kind of work. Or to be precise, their group never needed to do anything like this in their previous lives. Though given the situation, it is sure that this won''t be the first time they would be facing a situation like this. In fact, many times, they can face situations far worse than this. "I don''t know. Do you think we can get someone who can match our vibe? We aren''t exactly your typical adventurer group," Avida sat on the cold snow as she rxed before looking at Levi. It wasn''t like she disagreed with him, but she just didn''t think they could get someone who can meet all the criteria the group has. "Let''s see," Invar joined the conversation as he began counting,"we need someone who can cook, set up a camp, prepare for all sorts of environmental situations. Maybe we can store our weapons, have a basicbat skill, have situational awareness, be calm to murder but also trustable? Trust us but not ask even a single thing about our pasts? Yeah¡­ good luck finding someone like that." Invar then moved towards the trees, preparing to cut some wood for the fire. If they were going to camp they would need some food to eat as well, and for that fire was necessary. As for Levi and Avida, they both sighed before putting their thoughts into trash. It would be better if someone among them got some skills they can use for adventuring. Even though it''s gonna cost a skill slot or two, it''s a much better and easier option than the other ideas they had. "Consult with him first," Avida reminded him as she then stood up and moved towards Invar. Since he was going to cut the trees, it was her work to bring the wood to the campsite. "I will," Levi answered before he began setting up the camp using the items he carried in his inventory. -Cruch! Their eyes then reached Evelin who had returned. It was rather fast, so this made the group a bit cautious of her. She looked a bit serious with a hint of boredom in it. And the observing the group she answered, "Code: Double Zero two." The group rxed as they looked at Evelin with a confused look now. That code was just there so that in case any copy/illusion type of monster or yer tries to attack them. A bit of an extra step to their survival. "Why are you back so early?" Avida asked with the same confused expression on her face, while Evelin answered, "I found a B-Grade Monster." ¡­ [Location: Far West of the city: Desert Runes of the Lost Crusaders!] "And then, I went in and swished him. Hahahah. It was fun! You know how it feels like to cut knife with a butter ? Oh! Oops! I spoke knife with a butter haha! I meant butter with a knife? Yup! That was the feeling! Man those beach days with my grandma were the best! Like you know? The best of the best! My grandma always used to say¡­" Percy was rather talkative¡­ "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" experience-NovelFire-content "¡­" Too talkative. The other in the group kept silent as he kept going on and on from one point to another, not bothering to stop even once. Leaning a bit closer, Luke spoke to Alex,"why do I feel like this is more exhausting than the quest itself?" Alex only sighed as he shrugged before answering in a low voice," maybe because it is?" Well. At the very least the group wasn''t silent anymore. Mark and Alice rarely talked, with Alex mostly focused on important works. Their interaction was bare minimum, with each focused on their own. But now with Luke in their party as an extra member, and Percy being talkative enough to fill the quota of everyone present¡­ the group was more or lessplete? However, a few secondster Percy suddenly stopped talking as he looked at the front. His eyes were focused in front of him, at the empty desert, while Alice asked, "What happened?" "I feel vibrations in the air. There is some form of machinery here," Percy Answered with a narrowed look. And then crouching as he ced his hand on the ground [Rapid Electric Distortion!] He began using his skill at full power. The entire area in front of him started getting brighter for a few moments before the light dimmed. "What are-" Alex was about to ask something but before that the ground began shaking. An earthquake shook the entire area as a massive rune soon began emerging from the ground. It was an artistic rune that had intricate design and pattern. But the group couldn''t focus on that, as with the rune, there also came a swarm of flying insect monsters. "All right. I was getting bored from all this traveling," Luke said as he positioned his sword in the direction of those monsters, while the rest of the group also prepared for the fight. ¡­ [Location: East side of the city, deeper into the forest area!] [Tisha''s POV!] "Well, it''s creepy all right," Olivia spoke as she brushed the leaves off her hair with her hand. She looked at Samantha and re observing the surroundings as the rest of the group was setting the camp. Julia, Mira and Emily were the one working to create traps, collect the wood and also secure a shelter for the girls. As for me, I was tasked with observing the surroundings for any unusual movements. Unlike Samantha and re, who were trying to search for herbs and food, I was watching out for enemies. "Kyaaa- Mira!!! What are you- Hey!" I saw Mira sneaking up on Olivia and grabbing her from behind. Honestly if I didn''t know Mira very well from childhood, I might have even considered her a lesbo. Not that I care about things like that but the fact that she wasn''t and still was brave enough to¡­ -Booom! "You stupid bitch! What''s with you always sneaking up to us?" Olivia raged before chasing after Mira who was now running away. She hid behind Samantha andughed like a little kid before speaking,e on now. It''s not like you don''t like it." She sure was bold with words. "YOU!" And Olivia, fuming in anger, gritted her teeth as she red at Mira. "All right. That''s enough Mira, and Olivia, you get to work as well," Samantha spoke with a smile on her face as she reached the area where the wood was collected. re also moved there, lighting it up with her magic. "How far do we have to go?" Emily asked, a bit concerned as she looked at the night sky. While this world enjoyed the night more than the day, we exactly weren''t used to it. "ording to what Adrian told us, it should be about 3 kilometers ahead. That is why I decided to take a break here while waiting for the day before moving into that monster den," Samantha spoke as everyone nodded. "Are you sure the information is correct, though? Howe he knows more than us since we all started at the same time?" I asked as I moved closer to the group. I mean, it''s not like I hated him or something but trusting someone I didn''t know wasn''t exactly the best thing either. "Hey! Take that back!" Julia spoke out. Doesn''t seem like she liked what I said, though, I don''t care what she says either. She is head over heels for that guy, and even though I can understand her reasons for that, this and that are two different things. "Calm down Julia," re spoke as she sat on the ground peacefully warming herself up from the fire. "Actually we aren''t doing this for free," Samantha said as she smiled at me. I was confused as I obviously knew that there was a quest here that would help us proceed to the next Tutorial. That''s the reason we were here in the first ce. Though her next statement made my eyes widen at her. "Apart from the quest itself, he has promised that he can upgrade one of our skills to A-Grade and also remove any unwanted skills as long as it''s not B-Grade or above. He has an artifact for that, and Emily has confirmed its functions." Ummm¡­ "What?" I couldn''t believe what I just heard. Chapter 110: [An incomplete Ending!] [Adrian''s POV!] The entire area turned ck as I used my skill on that artifact. At first I thought that it might not work given the grade of that artifact, but seeing how all my senses are blinded right now, I guess it is working? ''I can think fine but that''s all I could do, huh?'' I thought as I tried looking around. Though I couldn''t tell that either. Given how my sense of touch was gone, I could barely even feel anything. "??" And then after a few seconds passed, I felt the movements of my chest, more specifically of this beating heart of mine. It pumped blood in all directions of my body, reaching the very corners of my body. The heating sensation returned first, as I felt my body heating before a cold swept all around my body, calming down the rising temperature. And as the cold increased, the sensation of my body returned, as I could feel myself floating. Floating in the air? Or was it water? My senses weren''t strong enough to tell really. Even the map was showing nk as I tried looking at it. With the sense of touch returning, the next was the sense of vision. My eyes slowly adjusted to the light around my area. It wasn''t really bright, as I could barely see the lighting from above. But given the surroundings that I could make out, I finally understood where I was. It was in deep water. [Kic Mastery!] My body readjusted itself, as I began floating up slowly. Looking around, I held my breath, and using the [The one], I focused on the conversion of the Energy into oxygen to breathe while I reached the surface slowly. -Ssh! And thening out of the water, I spat the water out of my mouth. Slowly using the [Kic Mastery!], I stepped out of the water body and stood on it. Looking around the area, I saw as far as I could. [Mapping!] As my powers returned, I mapped everything around before using [Spatial Mastery!] to check everything around me. A blue sky above me, while a green forest around theke that I was standing on. Not far from here, there was a huge city that seemed to be rather lively. And then before I could even take a step, I felt someone''s presence a bit far behind me. Someone was watching me from a distance opposite to where the city was. On the map, it showed a small house that was made up of wood and stones. Though it looked rathervish for the materials it was built with. Even though I didn''t know who was there, I felt like I would find my answers there instead of the city. And hence, I moved towards that ce as fast as I could. One step at a time, rushing through the forest, I reached there as I crossed the dense forest and found myself standing in front of that hut. source at m,vle mpyr I looked through the [Map] and also through the [Spatial Sense] that I had. And all I found was that the hut was rather normal with a single person sitting inside there, reading a book while enjoying a cup of tea. Though things seemed simple, there were two things that put my guard up. One was that the color on the map, of that guy inside the hut, was white. Simr to what I have, just like the two that I have seen before in the forest when I was with Mark. And the other was [You do not have enough Authority to look into this person''s status. Increase your Authority if you want to see the information about this individual!] I first wondered if I should just give up since the danger would be too much, but then thinking about the new skill that I had, I decided to give it a try. ''All right. Here goes nothing,'' I braced myself as I opened the door. Though what I found inside the hut was something that I never expected to see at all. "Hmmm?" That guy turned towards me with eyes observing me from top to bottom, and as if his eyes could see through my entirety, he widened for a bit. I wanted to run but before I could do so, he spoke, "That bastard¡­ I asked him not to disturb you¡­. " He gritted his teeth as he then sighed before observing me carefully as he asked," you seem to have a lot of questions. I am afraid I can''t answer all of them though¡­ the less you know the better." His eyes were angry but they weren''t directed to me. Perhaps the guy who gave me the artifact? Or perhaps someone else? Though¡­ It was true. I had so many questions that I wanted to ask. Starting from the very fact¡­ "Why do you look like¡­ me? Are you me?" I asked. It sounded stupid, yet it sounded the most important question to ask right now. "Maybe? We have the same start¡­. Though given the path you have taken, I doubt you are going to meet the same end as me," he answered as he looked at me with a smile. He seemed to be satisfied for some reason. "An alternate timeline? Or the future?" I asked the next question. Somehow¡­ I never once doubted all this to be an illusion. Somehow, my instincts told me that the person in front of me was me¡­ and somehow¡­ There was something entirely different about him. "An alternate reality to be precise," he answered again as he then began thinking about something and then asked," would you like to have a walk with me? I was just finishing this book''sst pages." He showed me a book named [At the Edge of Pathmaker''s Life], before he put it down and continued," now I want to witness the end myself." "The end?" I questioned as he then began walking towards me, and then passing me as he moved outside the hut, he then stopped. "What are you waiting for? Let''s go. We don''t have much time left," he urged me to hurry up, as he then continued walking, while I started following him. "Well. You must be in the Tower right now. It''s good. Even though you aren''t supposed to see me¡­ I guess not entirely everything is wrong with this situation. While I cannot tell you everything for your own safety, there are at least a few things I can guide you with," he began speaking as he then created a [Map], simr to the one that I had¡­ just a bit more advanced¡­ far more precise than mine. "We are going to go there," he pointed at a ce about a mile away from here, before he closed the map and continued, "Let''s start with a warning and an advice. The warning is simple, don''t get out of the tower from any other exit other than the one at 100th Floor. The reason is simple, if you can reach the 100th floor, your strength should be good enough to handle the problems outside the tower as well. If you try any other way before that, you will set your destiny at a wrong path." I have more questions now. Though I kept quiet. As we walked, I kept listening to him. "The advice is¡­ the people you meet in the tower. Can you save everyone? The more people you have with you in the end, the more you can save at thest point. It might be confusing, but I was too rash with my goals. So, try to keep the kill count to minimum. And yeah, I am not just talking about the yers, but the NPCs, the Admins, the Gods, everyone that is present there." I looked at him with my eyes narrowed. He seemed to be sad. And the more I looked at him, the more questions I had for him. Maybe I will ask the question when we reach the spot. It''s not that far anyway. And as we reached our destination he slowed down a little and turned towards me. "Adrian. You are not ''a'' Game Master but ''The'' Game Master. Use your powers properly¡­ there is nothing that is out of reach for you. And most importantly¡­ preserve what you have," he spoke before he looked at the two girls that were moving towards us. "Master Adrian. I thought you were going to disappear again," one of the girls spoke, while Adrian looked in the sky, far far away, as if his gaze was piercing through the sky. His eyes saddened as he spoke, "Anna. Leena. It''s over¡­ seems like it''s really the end." The faces of Anna and Leena, the two girls, crumbled as a couple of tears escaped their eyes. Though they still smiled as they spoke,"I guess, this is the end then." Both the girls held each other''s hand, while my eyes widened at the phenomenon that I saw in front of my eyes. I saw the sky breaking, and the distantnd was crumbling. Everything around was turning into ashes and then disappearing. "Also¡­ Looking at your status¡­ I guess, I can at least point this out," Adrian spoke to me, with a slight chuckle as half of his entire body was breaking. He continued with the same smile,"you are a Game master. You don''t need to follow the rules, you know? Nobody said that you can have only one Gift." And then he vanished as I kept looking at the area where his body was. Before it crumbled into nothingness. Everything turned ck for a moment as I found myself in an empty space again¡­ before my eyes opened and I was standing at the same ce before I came to that crumbling world. I was back in the Tutorial. This time, with more questions than before. Chapter 111: [God of Destruction!] Standing at the top of the clock tower, I was still recalling the events that I had just seen before. Everything that I had just been through right now¡­ it made a bit¡­ worried. Worried about the future that was yet toe. Taking a deep breath in¡­. And then letting it all out¡­ "All right. Even if I didn''t tell myself to not get out of the tower, it''s not like I was nning to immediately get out of here anyway," I spoke out with a calm expression before shaking my head. And then as I finished recalling everything, I recalled thest piece of information he gave me. It was something that I thought I would try but amidst all the skills and everything else, I totally forgot about it. ''Let''s check if it works,'' I spoke as my eyes glistened before I typed out a random gift to check if it were possible. [All the Gift Slots are filled. Would you like to create an additional Gift Slot for 1 Billion GM Points?] My eyes glistened as I saw it was possible. Even though it was rather costly, it was a game changer in itself. Something like this would probably be worth more than billions if used properly. I gave it a bit of a thought before pressing [Yes]. Actually, there was something that I was thinking of creating as a skill, but I wasn''t really sure of it since it would be either tooplex or too overpowered. Though if it were a [Gift], then I think I can use it properly. [Gift: God of Destruction! Grade: Origin! Effects: Allows the user to destroy anything that exists irrespective of limitations or boundaries! Everything that is destroyed bes a fuel for the user''s power!] [Would you like to create the [Gift: God of Destruction!] for 157 Quadrillion GM Points?] ''Fair enough,'' I sighed before editing it the same way as I did with [Cartography!]. [Gift: Defragmentation(Growth-Type)! Grade: Lower Mortal Grade - 0 Experience Required to Increase to next Grade: Destroy 10 random items. Effects: -Allows the user to break any normal item into 2 equal parts!] [Would you like to create the [Gift: Defragmentation] for 45,000 GM Points?] If my first [Gift] was focused on [Creation] as its end game, I was going to create my second [Gift] focusing on [Destruction!]. It won''t exactly be a perfection in the beginning, but it should be quite useful as it grows along with the first gift. Though it was costlier than the [Cartography] gift that I had created at its very base, given how it was easier for it to grow, I think the cost makes up for that. Added with the fact that I had millions of GM Points, I didn''t need to worry about it at all. ''Should I destroy random items to upgrade and see it?'' I gave it a thought since it was appealing but then I decided to let it grow as the battles and adventures toe would let me create as much havoc as possible. And once again my mind went back to what ''Adrian'' of the ''alternate reality'' spoke. The way he looked, the ce where he was, it made me question a lot of things. But in the end, a single phrase remained in my mind. ''Can you save everyone?'' "What did he mean by that?" I mumbled as I questioned the meaning behind those words. It didn''t seem like a simple phrase to me¡­ Well, I don''t know about everyone but there were a couple of people that I needed to look out for. My eyes observed the three groups that were hunting out in the forest, desert and the mountains respectively, and I sighed in relief before I observed Nora and Rosaliyah. They too were doing fine, so I then closed the map. The only other person that I could think of right now was Annabeth. The one I was contracted with. ''Hmmmm. It''s been a while since she killed another monster,'' I thought as I didn''t get any notifications. I then opened up the [Game Master System], and looking through the [Contracts], I moved towards her name. And then opening up a window, I saw Annabeth walking along with a boy. The boy didn''t look much old, just barely 12 or 13, though looking at the [Immortal Grade] gift he had, made me shudder a bit. ''One should never judge a book by its cover,'' I mumbled before continuing to observe her situation. ¡­ [Location: 45th Floor!] [Annabeth''s POV!] It''s been a long week. Like a really really long week. Though somehow I was more happy with itpared to the times when they were boring. I was now traveling up the floors where I would soon join the fight with the leader. The fact I could never be of any proper help despite being so strong was something that I have always felt inferior about. But it all went away when I met Crowley and then that strange being who removed my curse with such ease. It was a blessing that came from an unexpected turn¡­ and I was never more d with the fact that I happen to get lucky with this. "Stop grinning, you are scaring me there," the boy beside me spoke. His eyes were genuinely afraid, making me sigh a little. "If it had been any other person I would have probably even tried to believe it but 10¡­ you are the 7th strongest person in our entire group, even more stronger than me despite my sudden power up. So can you please stop acting so¡­?" I was speaking before I turned to him, but he had already lost interest in my words. He was now chasing a butterfly like a young child. Honestly¡­ the fact that his kill count is more than me¡­ I should be the one scared of him and not the other way around. Truly. You can never judge a book by its cover. "The path to 46th Floor is a bit tricky," he said as he observed me with a mischievous expression. My guard went up as I tried focusing around me, I observed the monster, the trees, the very environment itself. -Whoosh! -Whoosh! -Whoosh! In an instant, a dozen monsters, each of them creaking with corrupted energy appeared in front of us. They were shaped like wolves but there was something off about them¡­ despite seemingly being filled with dense energy, they felt hollow for some reason. "It''s all right, they are with us," and then 10 spoke as he moved towards those monsters and touched them on their heads. It''s as if dogs were ying with their monster, they all just happily surrounded him¡­ or at least that''s how it seemed to be. "10?" I questioned. This was something that I was witnessing for the first time¡­ something that I have never even heard about before. My guard went up a dozen times, this time against seat 10 than the dog monsters. The entire situation felt too creepy for some reason. Pointing my weapon at him, I then asked with a serious gaze in my eyes," 10. Exin what is going on here. Or else¡­ don''t me me for being rough with you." "Pfft~ Hahaha¡­ that look on your face. Hahahaha! It was totally worth it," he then started outughing before all the dogs vanished from there. He wiped his non existent tears before speaking, "It was one of my skills. Hahaha¡­ my god this was worth every effort. Actually the gate to the next floor is just right behind that tree." My eyes narrowed at him, still not believing him. I didn''t feel good about this situation at all. Was it really his skills? It surely didn''t seem like it. I don''t know if it was due to my instincts or due to my new Origin energy that helps me see things more clearly but I was sure of it¡­ they weren''t a part of his skills. Just that I had no proof to back up my im. [It''s fine. He is not lying about the gate. Though still be careful of him.] And easing my worries, came a message. I observed that message for a few seconds before I put my weapon back into my inventory. Truly I was ready to put my life on the line here. "Let''s go. What are you waiting for?" Seat 10 spoke again, with that cheerful smile on his face, before he began walking towards the gate to the next floor. And taking a step forward, I too, followed behind him as well. Even though I had my guard down a bit, I still wasn''tpletely rxed. The message from that [???] meant two things. First, that 10 wasn''t lying about the gate. Second was that there was really something wrong with the situation here. But still¡­ it''s not like I know what is going on here. All I could do is trust my gut feeling right now. And it was screaming that I should never have my guard down. Even for once. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] A silence covered the area where I was standing. I observed the guy whom Annabeth was following, and my eyes kept observing the status he had. Especially the title that guy carried. [Title: Death''s Apostle!] And somehow¡­ I felt like he would be the strongest of all the foes that I have seen in the Tower up until now. "Looks like¡­ I should hurry up with my work as well," I sighed as things were simply getting more and moreplicated by the minute. I wonder¡­ What exactly does the future have in store for me? Chapter 112: [All For One!] [Gift: Defragmentation(Growth)! Grade: Lower Mortal Grade-0! Experience Required for next major Grade: Destroy 10,000,000,000 random item.(57% Completed) Effects: -Allows the user to destroy any normal object -There is a chance for the user to destroy a normal itempletely in a single touch. -When the user is focused on destroying something, the user''s destructive capabilities increase by 5%!] ''Well. I guess I expected a bit too much from this. But then again, it''s still at [Lower Mortal Grade]. Plus it wasn''t that hard to increase its grade at all,'' I thought as I was at this point merely in an hour. The reason for the fast speed was because of the loophole in the condition of increasing its grade. It never said about the size of the object to be destroyed. Hence¡­ [Would you like to create 10,000,000,000 spherical Breakable sugar balls of volume 0.0001 mm cube for 17 GM Points?] I clicked [Yes!] as a pile of sugar appeared in front of me. It wasn''t even enough to fit in my hands right now. And then, as I created them right on the ground in front of me. -Thup! I ced my foot on the sugar balls. And then I crushed it even more. [Your gift [Defragmentation!] has been evolved to [Destruction!]] [Gift: Destruction(Growth)! Grade: Mortal Grade - 10 Experience Required to reach the next Grade: Destroy 10 F-Grade Items! Effects: -Increases the destruction capabilities of the user by 10%!] ''Hmmm. It should cost about a few 100 GM points, right? It never said the type of F-Grade item,'' I pondered before creating something that had no practical purpose but would still be considered better than normal items. [Item: Ball Grade: F Effect: Keeping the ball in your right hand will decrease the overall weight of the ball by 0.0001%] [Would you like to create the following Item for 7 GM Points?] Creating 10 of them, I then broke them into pieces. The next target was 100 F-Grade items, and the next were 1000 F-Grade items. After that there were E-Grade items in the same order of 10, 100 and 1000. I was able to destroy 1000 D-Grade items as well by creating very specific D-Grade items with very high restrictions and requirements to be very specific. Kind of. Anyways, it wasn''t really that hard to make it reach [Mortal Grade- 0]. Costed about a million Points in total? Cheaper than what it would have cost to create it directly. [Gift: Destruction(Growth)! Grade: Mortal Grade - 0 Experience Required to reach the next Major Grade: Destroy a C-Grade or above with only your Stats! Effects: -Increases the destruction capabilities of the user by 100%! -For every item destroyed, the user gains a 10% understanding of the item, allowing him to recreate it with some simr qualities. -10% Random Chance to gain 1% Random Stat of the items! -Allows the user to regenerate a percent of his energy after destroying the item!] "All right. Let''s see¡­ A C-Grade item, huh?" I pondered for a few seconds before creating another garbage that''s sole purpose was to be destroyed. Though I still needed to add some random stats bonus to it to make it a C-Grade at the bare minimum. The cost came around 100,000 Points, and any lower would have been impossible. Anyways¡­ -Crush! [Your Gift [Destruction!] has been upgraded by one [Major Grade!]] [Gift: Destruction(Growth)! Grade: Upper Mortal Grade - 10 Experience Required to reach the next Grade: Destroy 10 C-Grade Items/skills! Effects: -Increases the destruction capabilities of the user by 100%!] ''As usual,'' I thought as I noticed the pattern of the Gifts. There wasn''t a strict pattern, but a general idea of the Gift was as follows. Lower Mortal Gifts were basically utility based gifts that one can even gain without any specific requirements. For example with my cartography, anyone can rece it with a map with extra functions. Same with [Defragmentation!], it basically just increases how easily I destroy things and in how many pieces. Mortal Grade, upgrades the functions of what already exists in the Lower Mortal Grade. To some it unlocks extra skills like in [Cartography!], in others it gives you random stats and stuff. Things that you can get if you spend a lot of money on skills, will be avable through your Gift. To some it may even give extra function, such as allowing them to have extra blessings or such. Overall, it''s a bnced Gift as long as you don''t fight with anything or anyone with extra ordinary superpower. Although I have just touched the realm of Upper Mortal Grade, I had a rough idea based on what I had already seen in so many Gifts. "It enhances the ability of Mortal Grade to their peak," I mumbled as I looked at a couple of yers with [Upper mortal] gifts. They were powerful in their own domain, crossing the basicws of physics but nothing that was beyond what one can imagine. One can expect to run beyond 1000 km per hour if you have an upper mortal realm gift, but they can''t expect teleportation. They can jump as high as they want, while floating for a long time, near mimicking the effect of flying, but it won''t give them true flying abilities. In a way, everyone who had an Upper Mortal Grade had powers that went one step ahead of what''s possible, while Heaven''s Realm were already beyond that. Things like Teleportation, telekinesis and stuff were possible only if you had a heaven''s grade. ''Neat,'' I smiled as I looked at the two gifts that I had. Even though there were exceptions to it as well, I think this was the general pattern. And then creating another 10 C-Grade items for 100,000 GM Points each, I then destroyed them all at once. There goes another 1 Million Points. Looking at the pattern being the same as thest one, I sighed as I calcted that I would need about a billion points if I even need to take it [Upper Grade-5] or above. ''Guess, I would need to raid sme enemies and stuff if I want to reach it''s [Heaven''s Grade] and stuff,'' I pondered as I believed there should be many A-Grade and B-Grade items as well. Though I hoped, it won''t ask me to break S-Grade items or above as that would be¡­ rather troublesome. [Your Gift [Destruction] has been upped by one Grade!] [Your Gift [Destruction] has been upped by one Grade!] [Your Gift [Destruction] has been upped by one Grade!] [Gift: Destruction(Growth)! Grade: Upper Mortal Grade - 5 Experience Required to reach the next Grade: Destroy 1000 B-Grade Items/Skills! Effects: -Increases the destruction capabilities of the user by 100%! -For every item that the user destroys, the user gains 5% of its stats randomly! -Allows the user to destroy his own skills, emptying a skill slot! (Limit: 1 per 30 days!) -Allows the user to destroy one of opponents skills (Limit 1 per person!)! The user needs to be in contact with the person! -Unlocks Omni-Skill: All for One!] [Skill: All For One! Grade: A Effects: Allows the user to take 2% effect of every skill he destroys! The effects will be stored in the [Additional Effects of this skill] Additional Effects: -None! Limit of Additional Effects: 20!] ''Finally!'' I smiled as I looked at one of the effects which I had in my mind when I created this [Gift!]. The ability to not only destroy everything but also take its effect. Even though it''s only a minor portion, I doubt I would be needing to create any more skillster on. The smile was present on my face, as I looked at that skill for a few more seconds, before observing the system. Even though I had spent roughly 100 millions to upgrade the grade of [Destruction], it wasn''t a total waste. Since, each of those C-Grade, B-Grade items had some of their stats, I was able to raise my overall stats by an average of 30. Especially Wisdom, which I focused on a bit more than the others. "Even though I was going to leave it in the future, I ended up upgrading it up to here," I chuckled a bit before I shook my head and then looked at my surroundings. I pondered a couple of things before a certain thought appeared in my mind. Those people in the other world of this tutorial, should have B and A-Grade skills, right? It''s going to be fun¡­ ¡­ [Location: In a separate realm, where the Two Gods were trying to find ways to save their] Even though both of them werepletely busy with their own work, trying to find ways to save the destruction of thes, they were also keeping an eye on Crowley from time to time. "¡­" "¡­" And right now, both of them were in a paused state as they looked at Crowley smiling evilly. "Are you sure it''s the right decision to leave the fate of ours in his hands? He doesn''t really looks like¡­ a nice guy," the white God spoke, making the dark goddess sigh as she answered, "Well. I don''t know. It''s not like the other yers were sane either. I guess¡­ this is how the otherworlders are?" They had witnessed how these guys were continuously killing those ''immortal'' soldiers. They smiled brighter each time the immortals died in agony, and waited for them to revive to kill them again. Heck, some of them were even taking turns to kill the immortals, as if ying a game or something. Both the Gods shuddered as they recalled those events before looking at Crowley again, who was now jumping off the clocktower. And then sighing, they both looked at each other with a knowing smile. Even though they didn''t speak any words, they both conveyed the message that¡­ ''Let''s try our best. Let''s leave the future to the future. At least it''s better than living in despair everyday.'' And then both of them continued their discussion on ways to preserve the''s power without needing the outsiders help. Chapter 114: [Death!] [{Death} has taken an Interest in you!] That message was thest thing I saw on the system screen. It came rather too sudden as I just simply stood there, my body bing numb and my mind unable to think of anything further. Soon my eyes lost their vision as everything turned ck for a moment. What''s strange was that even though I couldn''t see anything, I felt an impending danger around me. Even though I couldn''t move a muscle, my body wanted to run as far as possible. It was odd¡­ because death was thest thing I should be afraid of. I always believed that I would wee death with open arms, yet here we are¡­ scared¡­ lonely¡­ Am I really going to die? "Aren''t you a cutie?" I heard a voice. Angelic? Maybe. There was something strange about that voice. It was too mesmerizing¡­ yet I felt scared. It was too pure. Yet, I felt like it was the edge of a lonely cliff. If I try to understand it, I will lose my sanity. There were only three words, but it was like a drug. Like an exquisite wine that one can get addicted to. Yet, I could tell it was poison. I will die if I lose control here. I need to run away¡­ but how¡­ ? "We need him in the end. It''s impossible without him." And then another voice came. This time from a boy that sounded barely 20. I think I have heard this voice from somewhere¡­ My eidetic memory helped me recall as I recollected that this voice was of that ''shadow'' guy whom I met in the forest before. ''What are they talking about?'' I questioned as I slowly regained my vision. I was getting calmer¡­ the previous effect was still lingering yet somehow I felt more control over my emotions¡­ and my body. "And? What does it have to do with me? Trust me, Noah. You and your little games with Adam, are nothing to do with me. You gotta be more convincing if you want to change my mind." The voice resounded again. It was seductive in every way possible. Searching around for the source, my eyes slowly adjusted to the area around me, they rapidly looked around tracing everything that was present there. I was standing in a white room that was about 10 meters wide and 10 meters tall, at its center was a woman in ck, sitting on a white sofa. Beautiful¡­ would be an understatement¡­ she was bewitching¡­ I stood at one of the edges of the room, and between me and that woman was that shadow guy. Even though he seemed to be casually standing there, from his expression it was easy to tell that he was on a defensive stance. "I¡­ I wil-" and as Noah was about to speak, the woman continued, "All right. Looking at you like this, makes me love you even more. My sweetheart¡­ Though, your friend here is much more delicious than you can assume." I knew she was talking about me. As she licked her lips a bit, while I just kept observing her. I gulped as I was rapidly searching for a way out. Even though my mind was a mess, I was trying my best to not lose my sanity here. Trying to ignore her, I focused on the boy, Noah, who was standing in between us. Noah''s energy was leaking out, as he seemed to be ready for a fight, but that woman ignored him as she spoke to me, "Choosing both the powers of life and death will be heavy for you. Your special body won''t be able to handle it alone¡­ though given you have ''That'' authority, I think you will be able to govern the two opposites if you y it right." She then stood up as she kept walking towards me. Noah took out his weapon, but didn''t dare to point at her. -Gulp! "Haha. You look cuter when you are so terrified. Don''t worry, I promise I won''t harm him. I am just a bit curious," she passed by Noah before reaching closer to me. Her eyes looked deep into my soul, before she reached closer to me. She then smiled as she kissed me on my forehead before speaking, "Consider this a gift. This will protect you when ''he'' will notice you. Since you are going to be taking part in the War of Fates in the future, you are going to need at least this much. Also¡­ make it entertaining¡­ Since your opponent will be ''that person'', it will be fun. I wonder if that bitch will cry seeing his most beloved toy being broken¡­." A strange smile was present on her face as I tried looking through the woman. Though my mind went numb every time I tried it. "Who are you?" I asked in the end, giving up as I couldn''t even begin to think whom I was facing here. I had an idea¡­ I just didn''t want to confirm it. Still¡­ "I am death. I am¡­ The Death," she answered with pride in her voice, before her smile turned mischievous as she spoke," let''s leave the questions until we meet again." I don''t want to. -sh! And then my eyes lost their vision again as everything around me turned ck. Just like before, I was rendered unable to move a muscle. Everything around me was numb for a few seconds. Moments passed as the senses slowly returned, and I found myself back where I was standing. In an empty field right outside the city. ''It was real, wasn''t it? Or could it be an illusion?'' I questioned. Or to be precise, I wanted to deny the reality for some reason. My eyes, which had regained their vision, slowly drifted towards the [System]. There was an additional statement there telling me that everything I just saw was the truth. It wasn''t a dream or an illusion. [Blessing: Mark of the Death Grade: Primordial Effect: You have been marked under the protection of Death! Any Primordial or equal being won''t be able to touch you without her permission! Those who are aware of the existence of Death, will know that you are under her protection!] And as I was still lost in my thoughts reading that blessing, I heard a voiceing from behind me. "You know¡­" it was the same guy, Noah. I turned back immediately as I saw him speaking,"¡­ you should¡­. Well¡­ ahh¡­ forget it. Just do whatever you like." He then vanished from there as I was left confused even more. My eyes recalled everything that happened¡­ and then somehow I recalled what the other ''Adrian'' had spoken to me. "I didn''t want to look into it¡­ but it seems I need to find out what is going on exactly," I spoke out loud as I recalled a single word that could probably take me towards the answers that I needed. "Adam¡­. I believe it is the same Adam Wesker¡­ I need to find more about him if I want to get my answers," I mumbled as now I must get the answers. Or I might end up getting wrapped in something without even knowing what is going on. My eyes then looked at the people in the city preparing for the iing war that was going to happen anytime soon. It was a part of the tutorial, so I need to make sure everything proceeds smoothly. Only when all the events of the [Hidden Quests] will be over, the next quest will start. And only after that, we will be able to move to the next Tutorial. ''Let''s finish everything and ascend to the higher floors,'' I firmed my decision even more. And hence I moved towards the group, slowly observing everything from a distance, wondering what they were talking about. ¡­ [Location: The Two God''s ce!] "Seems like there is no other way than what Crowley told us," Balthazar, the Admin of the Tutorial, spoke as even after trying for two weeks nobody was able to find a solution to the situation they were having. Except for what Crowley had suggested them, there was no chance of them reverting the situation they were in. "I still don''t like the way everything is going on but¡­ well. At least we tried our best, didn''t we?" The Goddess donned in darkness spoke out as she had her head down. She didn''t even like her own words, and as she was trying to cheer others up, her own mood went down by a notch. A streak of tears were barely contained within her eyes, as she observed the dulled faces of everyone present there. There was Nora, Rosaliyah, the White God and the Admin. Since the tutorial was about to be in its most active state right now, they decided it would be better for them to not interfere with what goes on in the tutorial. "Even though we are thinking that our interference would turn things chaotic within the tutorial¡­ don''t you guys think that it doesn''t really matter since that guy is there?" Nora spoke as her eyes were fixed on a certain individual within the tutorial. A guy who was roaming around the city, observing the yers and the way everyone was preparing for the war toe. Despite him acting normal in front of everyone, all the people have seen what he was capable of. Especially in thest 10 days when he was actively hunting non stop without any break whatsoever. "I guess so¡­ well¡­ it''s already far from a normal tutorial," Balthazar, the admin, spoke while the others nodded. Rosaliyah, who was particrly observing Adrian, had a constant smile on her face. It''s as if she saw something in him that the others couldn''t see. Something that was different from what she was looking at for thest few days. ¡­ The day passed rather silently as the murmurs started dying down. Despite fighting for their lives multiple times, most of the people here haven''t fought in an actual war. Hence as the time for war approached closer, the anxiety began lingering in the air, getting denser by the hour. The yers were nervous, the NPCs prepared for the worst. Even those who were preparing for a drawn out battle, or people who had somewhat experienced this type of situation, didn''t exactly feel good about the entire war thing. But still¡­ This was something that was going to happen anyway. And that''s something everyone was already aware of. Hence¡­ they all waited¡­they patiently waited for this war to start. And finally by the end of the night when the morning sun appeared, a portal opened up above in the sky of the city, before flying ships and wyvern riding warriors began pouring off the portals. The war¡­ had finally begun. Chapter 115: [War of the Two Worlds!] Do you know the types of Fantasy Wars that take ce in other worlds? There are many. Too many, in fact. Sometimes it''s between two races, sometimes two kingdoms, sometimes two worlds. Sometimes it''s about destruction of the other world, other times it''s for survival. Many times it''s about just creating a dominance on others, and many times¡­ it''s to make sure their existence is not erased from the face of the world. This particr war, also known as the War of the two worlds was one the most tragic yet strange war to be ever recorded in history. It''s something that would be remembered for itsndmark and the things followed more than the war itself. Things that will be followed wouldter change the entirety of the two worldspletely. But before that¡­ One may ask, why did this war start? It was partly because of the thirst to conquer newnds and partly because of trying to prevent the impending doom of one''s own world. The story goes a bit back in history. The holy humans, they were greedy, hence they wanted to take everything for themselves. And in the process, they even began taking the very source of power of their world for themselves. While it wasn''t apparent at first, but as time passed, things became chaotic as the started withering from certain corners. By the time they noticed it was already toote to do anything. The holy humans, scared, started looking for ways to prevent the destruction, but s they were too weak to prevent what they had started. So instead, when they found a path to an alternate world, they decided to take that world as their own. Any way was eptable as they needed to make sure to survive¡­ they needed to make sure that their race continues to thrive in the universe. Even if their is no more. It wasn''t smooth but things were progressing. The conquest had begun, and the Holy King even made a deal with the Vampire King, to provide him with half the essence of their in exchange fornds that they had taken control over. Though to be fair, it was just somend that wasn''t under the total jurisdiction of the vampire king. In a way it was a win-win situation. s, there was a certain factor that they didn''t take into ount. The otherworlders. The yers from the towers. They were far stronger than both the parties, they were far more crazy than both the sides. Something that both sides failed to assess. And hence both the kings were wiped days before the war even began. Most of their forces were gone with the interference of the corrupted ones. And what was left was trying to make sure they exist in this dying world. Hence they gave it all to conquer whatever they could. Still¡­ a pity¡­ The yers were present to stop the Holy Knights. As for the Vampires, even though there were many NPCs that were preparing for the war, they were merely civilians who had never fought in their lives before. So the least they could do is provide minimum support, but somehow even that was not necessary. With how much Nora and Rosaliyah had wiped off the enemy forces, there wasn''t anything left that could be called a threat anymore. Things were rather one sided as the yers alone handled the enemies. What was scary was that the yers didn''t do it for good or bad. There was no morale that could push them to choose between right or wrong. Instead, their ego was boosted with greed, they were trying their best to take as many strong cards as they could. Whether it was the flying type wyvern, or the huge flying ship, nothing intimidated the yers. While the previous lingering anxiety of war still remained, the strong enemies that probably held equally strong cards with them, became a bountiful target to hunt. The greed was enough to wash over that anxiety. The only yer who didn''t participate in the War Directly was Adrian. He observed everything from the shadows, decreasing the powers of the NPCs using his [Game Master System!]. Walking around the entire area, he looked through the entire thing. His map guided him through the entire battle, allowing him to look at the war through all the angles possible. And even though he could easily maneuver the direction of the battle, he decided not to. After all, the enemies weren''t something that they needed to be totally worried about. They were barely D-Grade, with the front line made up of C and B-Grade enemies. Strong but nothing out of reach. While the yers enjoyed this one sided massacre, the NPCs couldn''t really. Whether it was the vampires or the holy humans, they were all terrified by the sheer power shown by the yers. The holy humans, who were directly opposing the yers, were able to see the sheer madness in the yer''s eyes. They were greedy and cruel too but even then, this was something that they had never witnessed with their own eyes. For the first andst time, they understood how it felt like to be a target of hunting. They felt likembs waiting to be ughtered. But yet¡­ they cannot retreat anymore. Their world was more or less dead¡­ going back there was confirmed death. And hence, they pushed forward. With a bitter smile on their faces, they began fighting with even more power than before, exhausting a part of their life force, bit by bit, killing the very thing that they were fighting for. "For the HOLY EMPIRE!!!!" "Run!!!" "WE NEED TO FIGHT!!!" "BROTHERS!!!" "EVERYBODY ATTACK!" "He is my skill card!" "Hey! Why are you taking my prey?!" "I marked him first!" And the yers¡­ they couldn''t care less about the conviction of the NPCs. Speaking of NPCs, the vampires weren''t faring well either. They could see what the holy humans were going through. And even though they liked what they were witnessing, they couldn''t help but observe the behaviors of the yers. A chill ran down their spine as they realized that they could be the very next target. After all this war is over¡­ will they be able to protect themselves against the yers in case the yers decide to attack them? Aren''t they too justmbs waiting to be ughtered one day, living under the mercy of the yers? "Are we¡­ really going to be free?" One of the vampires asked the question in every NPCs mind. They didn''t know what was going to happen to them next, they had no idea in which direction this victory would take them. Though Adrian, he already had a n for everything that was going to happen from now on. He had a clear n for the future and what was going to happen from this point onwards. ''Protect everyone,'' he mumbled the words of the other ''Adrian'' before he looked at the NPCs. Even though this war was avoidable, it was necessary. Adrian could have easily moved towards the holy kingdom, made them submit to him, ending the war before it even started, but he didn''t. Partly this was because of how the holy humans had destroyed their own world without any concern, and partly was because of Adrian''s n to shift the rift from the Vampire''s world to the holy human''s world. Since the holy human''s world was mostly empty because of the destruction, once it was saved, it would be a perfect ce for exploration for the yerster on. With monsters and stuff, it would be like an extension of the first floor, a part of the first floor under Adrian''s jurisdiction. Hence, he made sure the war happens, and the holy humans will be forced to move in the vampire''s world. Once the war ends, he will slowly force the other humans to this world and start finding a proper equilibrium for the two races to live together. The idea was simple, and it can be executed with proper nning. Those two races won''t work together under normal circumstances, but if yers y the role of antagonist, they would surely join their hands to work together. Still it wasn''t totally possible without the agreement of the two god''s help, along with the permission of Nora and Balthazar. Rosaliyah agreed to help Adrian see through everything in exchange to set up a base for the corrupted ones in this new world, which he agreed without much question asked. The war continued for another 3 days, before the holy humans surrendered. The yers were disappointed because of a sudden message telling them that they would bear a penalty if they hunted more NPCs. They all stopped with dejected faces. As things came to a conclusion, everyone wondered what they should do next¡­ but at that moment¡­ as Adrian wanted, the Two Gods descended to the world together. "Oh our dear vampires and humans¡­ Just what have you done?" They spoke about what they have been practicing for the past few days. While Adrian smiled as he looked at the piece of paper that contained the same words that the Gods were speaking. And then he looked at the rift that was connected to the Safe Zone. ''All right¡­ this should be enough to start the next tutorial,'' he mumbled as he began nning for the next phase of his ns. Things were smooth, though the lingering feeling that Adrian had with {death} and the other Adrian still remained. Even though he could sense something big was going on,ck of information made him helpless. The only thing he could do is to find more about the man whose traces are present all around the tower. Hopefully he will find something out at the very least¡­ "So much for a simple life," he mumbled before moving towards Nora who was observing everything from a distance. Chapter 116: [Who is Adam Wesker?] [Nora''s POV!] This world is tragic. From the start, till the end it had everything. Whether it was the abundance of mana, the flourishing nature, the rarity of species, or the power to sustain itself through eternities, it had everything one can ask for. ''If cultivated properly, given its time and history and location in the universe, it should have been able to be an A-Grade world that could live for eons or more. These people could have easily produced multiple S-Grade or even SS- Grade entities every generation or so,'' I sighed at the tragic end of the world that I was witnessing. All because of the greed of the people that were residing in this world. Truly pitiful¡­ truly pathetic. Do they not know that one shouldn''t poison the very mouth that feeds them? My eyes then observed the current scene in front of me. Bodies in golden armor were scattered all around and the yers were trying to find out the cards that were being created out of the essence of those bodies. Some were happy, some were disappointed. None were sad. It could be possible that many of the fallen had families. Perhaps people were waiting for them to return back home, yet here they were treated as objects. Nothing more nothing less. The protectors of this world, huh? Soundsughable really. My eyes then looked at the second race of this world. The vampires. Standing in the sun, weak as their bodies shivered. Their eyes sunken hollow as they wondered if their turn woulde soon? But then again¡­ all hope was not lost. Their Gods appeared in front of them. A beacon of light in the darkness, they moved towards that light as if it was going to disappear if they were even a secondte. The wind brushed against my face as my hairs were untidy now. Some of the hairs scattered over my face, blocking my vision, so I slowly moved them before cing it behind me back. As per Crowley''s instructions, the Two Gods began speaking to the natives of their worlds. Whatever was left of them. They first exined what the holy humans have done to the world, and how the destruction of the world was on its way. They showed genuine anger, their faces a bit hollow, they felt an extinguished rage inside them. But even if they were to shout at their subjects, what good woulde out of it? "The scenario of the Tutorial, huh? It would be the first time a yer was controlling how the tutorial should proceed," I spoke as I looked at the guy, Crowley, who was observing everything with a keen look on his face. This also reminded me of the other scenario. The scenario of the first floor that was hidden deep within the first floor. An uncleared scenario that nobody ever touched before. And as I thought more about it, I realized that it wasn''t just the people here that were pitiful¡­ perhaps the entire tower was in a way. My eyes observed Rosa and Balthazar at a distance, talking with each other about the scenario. As usual, they have forgotten about me. I know I am used to it, but still the hollow feeling remains in my heart, making me wonder if I should just close myself to everyone in this world. But then again¡­ things were different yet again. That guy, Crowley, the one who was somehow exempted from the rules of the system, moved towards me. His hair fluttered against the winds as well, while his blue eyes behind that crow mask of his, observed me with a deep look in them. Wearing a ck coat over his casual white shirt and ck pant, he kept walking with his hands in his jacket. That single katana on his back gave off a loner vibe despite having such a good willed personality of his. The wind once again blew a bit stronger, as my hairs were once again scatter all over my face. Taking out a rubber band, I put it in between my teeth, before collecting my scattered hair and holding it together. Then using the rubber, I tied my hair, before I focused on Crowley who had finally reached near me. "Seems like eveything is going as you wished for," I spoke, as I finished tying up my hair. Keeping my hands behind my back as I slowly interlocked them, I then began walking towards the God and Goddess that were exining everything to the natives of this world. "Hey Nora. Can I ask you something?" He spoke as he observed me with a curious expression. I was taken aback for a while, but then again, it was normal for him to be curious about things as well. Despite seeming knowledgeable, he was someone who had barely entered the Tower. It won''t be odd for him to have some curiosity towards one thing or another. Tilting my head slightly, I looked at him. As we walked, I observed his face with a lot of curiosity, wondering what kind of question he would have. From the face he was making, he seemed to be deeply troubled for some reason. "Sure. Ask away," I said, while he nodded at me before he posed his first question. "Who is Adam Wesker?" "¡­" I halted my steps as I looked at him. Was it rted to Adam''s visit to the castle before? Or more importantly, why is he asking about Adam? Given how Adam was behaving before, shouldn''t they already know each other? Or was there something that I was missing here? Observing my expression, and the sudden shock on my face, he smiled. As if he reached a conclusion on his own, I saw relief appearing on his face. He then continued, "You seem to know about him. That''s really a breather, you know? Actually¡­ I have been doing a couple of things in the past few days. Especially since I entered the tower. I feel like I am going to find my answer if I get to know more about Adam Wesker." "I can answer. Actually, as someone who has been here from day one, I know a bit about that guy. Though¡­ I wonder if it will be of any use to you?" I spoke my mind. I only know mundane things like what he did on a normal day, and how he always knew what was going on despite never participating in anything. "Really? I would be really thankful to you if you help me out here Nora," Crowely spoke as he looked at me with a joyful gaze, while I shook my head as I corrected him, "No. It''s me who is thankful for all the things you are doing for me. Telling you about things that I know is the least I can do to help you in return." I smiled back before I continued, "Why do you want to know about that basta- I mean Adam?" I asked. That guy wasn''t someone one should get along with. Even though I can''t tell, it''s a feeling that if he gets to know you, you will always be winded up with on his finger. Though, I think as long as Crowley has that special entity watching over him, he shouldn''t have any problem with Adam. "¡­" He looked at me for a few seconds before he shook his head and asked, "Hmmm¡­ can you tell me what kind of person was he? Also how strong was he?" "That''s¡­ a tricky question really," I answered before continuing to speak," he was a guy who seemed pathetically weak, but had never lost a single battle. Everything he did was calcted through and a thoughroug. You can even call him a perfectionist of sorts." "What do you mean by he was weak but never lost a battle?" "Hmmm. It''s like he somehow could see everything that was going to happen far before it even takes ce. I even believe that he has foresight or something. Anyways, all his battles were won before they even took ce, either by someone''s interference, or by some other means. The only times he used his full power on the first floor was when he faught against the S-Grade Monsters¡­ but even then, he only used the bare minimum to defeat that monster." "Is that so? Hmmm¡­ seems like the extent of his powers is going to be a mystery," Crowley spoke, while I nodded. I feel the same. "What about his personality?" "Shitty," I spoke as I recalled all the way he does things. My husband would alwaysugh with him, while most guys would always rely on his for big or small thing. Though somehow, he always knew how to tick me off even at the smallest thing. Though the worst thing was that even I feel indebted to him given how many times he had saved the people I cared about back then. "He was so perfect that I couldn''t help but feel like something was wrong with him. No matter what he did, even if it were to kill someone, it would lead to a series of events where he woulde out as a hero or something. Many times I felt like he was the one who created the entire situation, but my husband spoke otherwise¡­ in a way, I sometimes felt like my husband was closer to him than he was to me," I shot daggers in the air. Even now, when I met himst time, I felt irritated. "But¡­ since the end result was always the same, all I can say that he a was the beloved scumbag of the tower," I gave out a loud sigh as I gave my honest thought to Crowley. He observed me for a few seconds before smiling as he answered," seems like you were really fond of him as well." "Fuck you! I would rather kill that guy 100 times over! That homewrecker! That fucking bastard!" I shouted at Crowley as my eyes red at him. How did he even reach that conclusion? "Do you happen to know any person named Noah?" He then asked suddenly, making me look at him for a few seconds. I then tried recalling if I knew anyone like that¡­ "I know a few Noah''s¡­ but don''t know if you are talking about the same guy," I answered him. Noah was amon name in the Tower. Every turn there are always a couple of Noah''sing out of the tutorial. "Is that so? Thanks, Nora. Hmmm. Is there anything else you can tell about Adam?" He asked me again, and I pondered about a few things before asking Crowley, "I can tell you one more thing but before that tell me one thing Crowley. Have you ever heard the term, Fate Weavers?" Chapter 117: [Fate Weavers!] "I can tell you one more thing but before that answer me this, Crowley. Have you ever heard the term, Fate Weavers?" I looked at his confused expression. It didn''t seem like he knew about it. And since he doesn''t know about it, I don''t think telling him anything about it would be helpful. "Fate Weaver?" He asked. "Yeah. It''s something of a story so I don''t know much in detail. But it''s what I have heard from Adam when I asked him why he was in the tower," I started my exnation properly. It was on a random morning when I was tasked to help Adam with something regarding an elf who lost her child in the forest. Since I was bored and I didn''t have much to talk with, I asked him a simple question about how did he enter this tower? What was his purpose and what would he do if he were to get out of this tower? You know, like, random questions. Given his carefree nature, I expected a simple answer or maybe make fun of me again as usual, but perhaps because he didn''t mind telling me, he told me in bits about why he was in the tower. He told me that outside this tower there exists a bunch of [Connections] or [Branches] that connect one to another. Those [Branches] have [Sub-Branches] and [Sub-Sub- Branches], with each holding a system of their own. Some Gxies or some Systems, etc. There were two things that one should keep in mind. One was the starting of those branches, the main branch, the of Zarraf!], which holds the central key to everything and the other was [Tower of Forbidden Path] that guides the [yers] to the of Zarraf!] from their native world. ording to Adam, this ce holds the key to all the other [Sub-branches] and one can get anywhere they want as long as they have the power to control the tower itself. As for the of Zarraf], that''s the ce where the main source of the power of this toweres from. The story of Fate Weaveres from the fact that there are said to be 10 individuals that have given the authority of determining the fate of Zarraf. The people who hold unimaginable powers that could break the rules of all thews just as they see fit, letting them redefine the destiny of that. Though whether the Fate Weavers would destroy the or save it is something that is up to them. "Is that so?" Crowley observed me with a deep expression as he took all the information. And then pondering he asked, "Was Adam a FateWeaver too? And also, the end point of the tower is of Zarraf]?" "I don''t know and I don''t know. Adam never told me about that. And as for the end point, Adam told me that nobody except him was able to reach the final floor, so if people want to find out the answer to that, they would first need to reach the end of the tower themselves," I sighed as I got irritated a bit. Adam always left everyone with questions hanging that he never answers. Though since the information seemed to be too secret, I didn''t pry too much into it. "Thanks Nora. This is quite valuable information you just gave me," he spoke as he seemed to be thinking deep about something. His eyes were now looking at Risaliyah, standing at a distance, observing Crowley with a knowing smile on her face. As if she were waiting for our conversation to end, she slowly started walking towards us. And reaching to us, she then observed Crowley, asking him, "You seem to have a lot of questions for me." "I do," Crowley answered her before he was about to ask her something but he stopped as Risaliyah continued, "I can''t tell you everything. I am cursed not to say a lot of things¡­ but I can still tell you that all the things that Nora spoke are true." "Wait?! You still remember me?" I asked out, surprised, while Risaliyah chuckled before speaking," Even though I can''t see much, I never left my senses away from you. You are an important person, Nora. I can''t afford to forget about you." "Ah! Is that¡­ so? Thank you," I spoke politely as I realized that she was going so far as to not forget about it. Despite her reasons, it made me happy that all the moments that we spent in thest few days didn''t vanish into thin air again. "Crowley. Don''t worry too much about that Son of a b- Adam. Despite looking so strong, even he has rules and limitations. I can''t tell you much but I will let you in with information I got from outside. Adam works under an organization ''Brothers of Salvation,'' and without his leader''s permission, he can''t touch even a fly here. And I have met their leader once, and from what I have collected, that leader is a kind person. He took a life oath that he will personally kill any of his brothers if they harm anyone in the tower¡­. Unless of course you attack them first," Risaliyah spoke as she seemed to be proud of that fact. "How strong are they? The Brothers of Salvation," I asked with concern while Crowley kept his silence. "Don''t know much about them other than the fact that they have a sess rate of 100%. Plus, all the Gods of that respect and fear them. Although I haven''t witnessed it with my own eyes, sources tell me that each of the brothers, including Adam, are strong enough to take on a Fate Weaver themselves. The Ones I have met other than the leader are Adam, Abraham, Falcon and Morpheus. They seem trustable from what I have collected." Risaliyah''s words made us turn silent once again. Though Crowley sighed as he looked at Risaliyah and spoke,"thanks, I guess. All I can understand from your words is that I need to be much stronger than I am right now, if I want to survive this tower and beyond that. Though I will keep your words in memory. Maybe not right now, butter they should be really helpful." He then pondered about something before he spoke," you husba-" "Don''t!" Risaliyah shouted at Crowley, making him pause abruptly. His eyes were confused but Risaliyah spoke with a stern expression on her face, "Don''t take his name. If you do¡­ my curse will activate once again! Even I can barely call out his name once every few days." There was slight horror on her face, making me wonder just what kind of curse was that. It made me pity her a lot. Despite being in a simr condition as mine, her situation was far worse than mine. Crowley was surprised but he calmed down as he heard Risaliyah''s exnation. "I¡­ wasn''t going to take his name. I was just thinking about the being that I am contracted with¡­ maybe I canter talk to him and see if there is a way we can help you out as well?" Crowley spoke, making her sigh with a sad smile on her face, while her eyes looked rather hopeless as she observed Crowley. "I¡­ if you can get strong enough to do that, then maybe. But I don''t think that is possible. Thank you for caring about me though," she spoke before Crowley nodded. I could see that he hadn''t given up and was somehow determined to help her out. And I kind of pray that he seeds. "¡­ it is the only way to save the twos!!! So Imand you all to follow what we have decided for you! Or else. There wouldn''t be a single anyone to call home to!" On the other hand, the Two Gods have finished with their speeches as well. Their words caught our attention, as we looked at them beaming with that golden light behind them. And then at the mesmerized yers and the natives of this. "Most of the things you have said are done. What should we do next?" Balthazar appeared out of thin air as he looked at Crowley. Crowley was about to speak before Balthazar looked at me, his eyes widened as he spoke, "The soul of the first floor? You really are here, huh?" Once again his words made me recall the cruel curse that I was born with. It made me sad, really. "Don''t make that face. I told you right? I will soon fix your problem as well. Just let me handle the current situation first," though Crowley gave me a bright smile, cheering me up. I nodded at him as I felt much better. His eyes then looked at Balthazar as he continued," did you find that person that I asked you to?" "Are you talking about the kids and the families of the Ghost Saintesses?" He asked and Crowley nodded. Balthazar pondered before continuing to speak, "Yes, they should be meeting each other right now. Is that rted to the whole situation about saving this?" "Kind of. There were a couple of steps more though," Crowley spoke as he began checking his system. He seemed to be typing something, which made me curious really. Though perhaps because of that special being, I couldn''t look at Crowley''s System. [You do not have the Authority to Look into the person''s stats!] ''I am the soul of the first floor, yet my authority isn''t higher than a yer''s, huh?'' I sighed as I then just kept observing Crowley doing something for a few moments. He kept mumbling how this was going to empty his pocket and how it''s so overpriced, but in the end, he simply sighed before speaking, "Well. Whatever." And then¡­ [Tutorial 5 has Ended!] Chapter 118: [Tutorial 5 Ends!] Adrian''s POV!] ¡­ [Quest 3: A war of two worlds ispleted!] [+20 All Stats!] [+10,000 Skill Points!] [+ Blessing: Favored by Two Worlds!] [Quest 4: Redemption of the Cruel King Completed!] [+Item: Ring of the Lone King!] [Quest 7: Angels'' Requestpleted!] [+50 All Stats!] [+10,000 Skill Points!] [+Blessing: (Favored by the Two Worlds) has been upgraded to (Protected by the Two World)] [Quest: Fight against God Completed!] [+Blessing: (Protected by the Two Worlds) has been upgraded to (Beloved of the Twin Worlds)!] A series of system messages appeared on my screen. My eyes kept gazing at them for a few seconds before I reached thest message. [Tutorial 5 has ended!] And only then, I noticed that the entire world was frozen again. Whether it was the gods, the NPCs, Nora or the yers, everyone was frozen around me, while I just sighed. It''s time like these that made me question just how powerful the entire Game Master System is? Given how things function, I believe that the next quest would start immediately. Well, at least things are somewhat progressing. As usual, I started by looking at all the System Messages that I had received this time. Starting from the [yer''s] blue screen that I had. [Item: Ring of the Lone King! Grade: A Effects: Increases all the stats of the user by 500% when he is against his own allies!] ''Quiet a peculiar item,'' I thought before keeping it in my pocket. Not something I would like to use, but surely it woulde handy if the situation arises. Looking at the system again, even though there were quite a bit of messages, there was only one proper reward other than stat ups and skill points. [Blessing: Loved by the Twins! Grade: SSS Effect: As long as you exist on any of the twos, there is not a single existence that can harm you!] "¡­" That''s¡­ a really overpowered title. Though if one thinks about it, wasn''t this title practically useless in case someone fails to do the next quests amd return back to tower? Or even if they somehow end up reaching the point I am, will they even get to use this blessing? I checked for the other rewards and messages, but they were mostly useless, so I skimmed through them. A bit about the skill points, and a bit about increased favorability with the gods and the people and such. With that done, I checked my system once again. This time afresh with all the new blessings and increased stats. Honestly, not much has changed but it''s nice to look at. [Name: Adrian John Rodriguez! Race: Human! Title: [Goblin Hunter] ss: Mortal (Unssified!) Blessings: Blessing of Gaia(S) Surface Dweller(E) Thoth''s Wisdom (B) Mark of the Death (Primordial) Loved by the Twin Worlds(SSS) Gift: [Cartography (Upper Mortal Grade-10)] [Harbinger of Destruction (Heaven Grade -10)] Body-Talent: [Triple-Equilibrium Heavenly Body!] Health: 29000/29000 Energy: 32000/32000 Attributes: Strength: 252 (+30) Agility: 224 (+200) Constitution: 190 (+100) Stamina: 170.0 (+100) Intelligence: 290 (+30) Wisdom: 195 (+50) Charm: 150 (+30) Free Attribute Points: 15 Points: 57,244,971! Skills: (6/11) Active:[elerated Analysis(S)!] Passive: [The One(S)!] [Professional Cooking(B)!] [Absolute Nullification(A)!] [Kic Mastery(A)!] [Inventory(C)!] Gift skills(1): [Cartographer''s Vision(S)][Perfect Measurement(A)][Eidetic Memory(A)!][Spatial Sense(A)!] [Creator''s Dexterity(A)!] [Illusion(A)!] Gift skills(2): [Devourer(SS)!] Free Skill Points: 121,091 Items: Stealth Cloak(C) ck Leather Armour of Grace(C) ck Leather Boots of Grace(C) ck Leather Gloves of Grace(C) Unloved Ring of Grace(C) Unloved Ne of Grace(D) Twin Guns of Azeroth(C) Amulet of Pathseeker(?) Sword of Grace(C) Mask of the Crow(E)] Looking at the items that I had, I pondered if I should upgrade all of them to A-Grade or above. But then again, I don''t exactly need to right now. Maybe after the tutorial ends? That would be a good time to reassess everything. "All right. With that done, let''s now see¡­" my eyes then moved towards the white screen once again. Everything appeared in front of me at once as I saw tens of messages in front of me. Though with my [Perfect Measurement!] and [elerated Analysis!], I was able to look at it and calcte everything at once. And to my surprise¡­ I gained 375 Million GM Points just frompleting those quests. The Unique Quests especially gave 100 Million GM Points each, which made me smile a bit. Though noticing the pattern, I also realized something. ''If the rewards are increasing with each tutorial, won''t I be able to get billions or trillions of points by the end of the final tutorial?'' I pondered as I realized it was kind of fast. I wasn''tining though. The faster I finish these tutorials, the faster I can climb the tower. And the faster I do that, the easier it would be to get my carefree life back. ''All right. Let''s check out the other things first,'' I then shook my head as I focused on the [Game Master System!] once again. Especially at the Authorities that I held currently. [Game Master''s ID: Adrian John Rodriguez/??? Username: Unnamed Authority Level: 6 (Upgrade Cost: 100,000,000 GM) Current GM Points: 423,419,120] ''All right, let''s upgrade it once more,'' I smiled as I upped the authority once more. [Game Master''s ID: Adrian John Rodriguez/??? Username: Unnamed Authority Level: 7 (Upgrade Cost: 1,000,000,000 GM) Current GM Points: 323,419,120] [Privilege 1: The Game Master can see All the Quests Present on the current Level without any hidden information about the current server and adjacent ones! He can see the information of every item (below his power level) present in the Tower!] [Privilege 2: The Game Master can bet on all the yers present in the tower!] [Privilege 3: Allows the GameMaster to Adjust the rules of all things Equivalent to GM Points spent! As long as it does not break the boundaries of the tower, anything can be adjusted!] [Privilege 4: Allows the GameMaster to [Contract] a yer, NPC, general Floor Managers, Admins, Rankers, Higher Admins and give them [Blessing!] [Skill!] [Title!] [Coins!] [Curses!] [Punishment!]. The Game master can also send public messages to those around the Contracted person.] [Privilege 5: Allows the GM to view all the quests of the next Event!] [Privilege 6: Allows the GM to Add any form of quest in the scenario as long as it''s not a main Quest! The Game master can change the description of the Main Quest along with making possible minor changes as long as it doesn''t vite any rules!] [Privilege 7: The Game Master Control Panel has been unlocked!] [New!] [Privilege 8: The Game Master Floor Panel has been unlocked!] There were a few small changes in the description that were useful in their own ways, but the most important one of them all was this one. [Game Master Control!] -NPC control -yer Control [New!] -Game Setting Control (Authority Level 10 Required!) -Tower Setting Control (Authority Level 16 Required!) While the NPC controls remained the same, the [yer Control] was something that I had gained with this new authority. [Game Master Control: yer Control! -Increase/Decrease the overall Stats of the yer! -[Locked: Authority Level 8 Required!] -[Locked: Authority Level 10 Required!] -[Locked: Authority Level 13 Required!]] [Increase/Decrease the Overall Stats of all the yers by: 5%! GM Points required to increase the percentage of change possible: 100 GM Points!] As much as I was saving the GM points, I felt like I should spend it on this one. Hence, I spent 111,111,100 to increase the percentage from 5 -> 40%. And as much as it cost me more than 100 million, I felt like it was totally worth it. I might even spend 10 billion if required. To bring down the enemies stats, would be one of the major ways to ensure my survival here. ''But above all¡­ aren''t I bing more of a God in the Tower? The ability to do anything¡­ Well¡­ let''s hope everything goes well,'' I sighed as I looked at the rest of the System as well. God or human, it doesn''t matter. My end goal is the same as always. I just want to have a quiet rxing life in some corner of my normal world. If bing a God is what it takes to restore the peace that I was living in, then be it. "It seems I can see Annabeth''s area as well," I thought as I looked at the ce she was. Because of my newfound skills, I was able to see 100 kilometers around her as well, and given how she was fighting in the war with the yers and the NPCs, I guess it was fun there as well. That [Death''s Apostle!] was still with her, killing enemies much faster than her. From the looks of it, his powers were focused on harnessing the life of the enemies that he kills, which kind of suits the title he has. Still, a child so young, enjoying such killing isn''t really a pleasant sight to be honest. "Well. Let''s check on the next thing on the list," I spoke out before moving to the quest area. And to my surprise there was only one quest present there. Something that I didn''t anticipate at all¡­ [Quest: Witness the Fate of the Two Dying Worlds! Difficulty: Easy! Description: The Two Worlds are dying! There is nothing you can do but watch its end! Yet there is still time, will you challenge fate and see if you can bend destiny? Time limit: 30 Days! Ways to Complete the Quest: -The Quest will bepleted whenever the yers forfeit the Quest! They will be teleported back to Safe Zone, where they will wait for the next tutorial! -The World End is Prevented! Rewards: -One Random Item will be given to the yer for every day they survive!] Chapter 119: [Server!] [Quest: Witness the Fate of the Two Dying Worlds! Difficulty: Easy! Description: The Two Worlds are dying! There is nothing you can do but watch its end! Yet there is still time, will you challenge fate and see if you can bend destiny? Time limit: 30 Days! Ways to Complete the Quest: -The Quest will bepleted whenever the yers forfeit the Quest! They will be teleported back to Safe Zone, where they will wait for the next tutorial! -The World End is Prevented! Rewards: -One Random Item will be given to the yer for every day they survive!] The quest was simple. Yet there were so many things that remained unsolved¡­ or perhaps they were solved in a way? Recalling back how everything had started, what was the most obvious way for the tutorial to go if I had not interfered? Tutorial 4 would have been about survival. The way we were left in the middle of nowhere and were tasked to reach the nearest safe point. It was an easy quest that anyone could do. If one can do that, they would have been tasked to deal with the internal struggles of the kingdom. Not just this one, but the other kingdoms would have surely tried to use the powers of the otherworlders for their own good. Greed¡­ It''s surely a troublesome emotion that all beings possess. ''But the quest was to survive in the kingdom and defend it?'' I thought about it a bit. And in the end realized that it was also a chance for the yers to improve their own power along with protecting the stronghold where thest war would take ce. Looking at the other ces where the yers were, they were also attacked with a lot of monsters and such. Unlike how this ce faced a threat from the other, those yers got a threat from the monsters that surrounded them. ''The difficulty is randomized? Perhaps?'' I gave it a bit more thought. If I weren''t here, then there was a high chance that these yers would have either perished or joined the enemies. And this war¡­ it would have surely reached a high point where both the Vampires and the Holy Humans would have been at their neck full throttle? Though¡­ the was still at its end¡­. Does that mean the Tutorial 5 would have started randomly even if nobody did anything? It could be possible¡­ Though there were still too many inconsistencies. Perhaps the interference of the Corrupted yers also yed a part in the diversion. And as for the final event, it''s self exnatory. Witness the end of the world. I sighed as I recollected everything before closing the quest window. My eyes looked around at the frozen world for a few seconds before I pondered something. I had an idea¡­ though before that, let''s look at the [Bets] that I can make this time. [Betting!] -Bet on the yer who will exit first x10 times reward! -Bet on the Number of yers who will survive for 10 days x 5 times reward! -Bet on the Number of yers who will survive for 20 days x 10 Times reward! -Bet on the Number of yers who will survive for 30 days x 20 Times Reward! -Bet on the yer who will exitst x 50 times reward! -Bet on the yer who will witness theplete end of this world''s Fate x 100 Times Reward! A smile appeared on my face as I looked at thest option. And then I put my name on thest bet, before pouring 200 Million Points into it. While it wasn''t as high as the bets on the Tutorial 4, it was still good enough for me. And with that done, I looked around a bit more. Since the time was frozen, I couldn''t destroy anything even if I wanted to. But still¡­ I was able to move around the area as freely as possible. A smile appeared on my face as I looked at my [Gift: Cartography!]. And then taking the first step¡­ -Whoosh! I began running all around the entire. And much to my delight, I was still able to map the area without any problems at all. -Whoosh! -Whoosh! With time stopped, I didn''t need to worry about anything at all. I could map the entire without holding back. I don''t know how much time passed as I kept running around the entire. 10%¡­ 20%¡­ 40%¡­ 70%¡­. 100%. Not leaving a single stone unturned, I covered the entire, before using the opened portal to move to the other as well. 10%¡­ 30%¡­ 50%¡­ 70%¡­ 100%. And when that was done¡­ The First Floor was next. The rift that connected to the first floor, how could I not abuse that loophole as well. -Whoosh! Mapping everything I could, it was much faster than thes. And before I knew it, I mapped the entire first floor as well. Though¡­ that left me a bit¡­ wondering. [Your Gift Cartography has been upped by 1 Minor Grade!] The number of people on the first floor was far less than what I had initially calcted. I had anticipated the poption to be somewhere around 20-30 billion, given that everyone was transported here, though much to my surprise, there weren''t even 100 million people in the entire first floor. But¡­ then I recalled something else as well. [The Game Master can bet on yers on other servers as well!] I pondered about it, before checking if there was anything like that in the [Game Master System]. Initially I did not find anything, but after checking for a few minutes, I found a certain option allowing me to Change Servers. I hesitated for a bit before clicking on the [Server!] And then, thousands and thousands of panels appeared in front of me. Each marked with a number, a different code. Clicking on one of them, I tried looking at it, and I found that it was a random server in the tutorial where the people were fighting against monsters. I checked another, and then another and then another. In some, there were angels, in another there were beastmen, some elves, some more humans. In some there were cultivators, some spirits, some sorcerers. A variety of each race, a variety of each being. If there were humans, there were also sub humans. If there were elves, there were thousand types of elves. My heart sank a bit as I gulped before observing one of the random servers where a couple of elves were fighting against some werewolf type demihumans. Noticing that the server was in [Tutorial 2 Phase], I pondered if I could prevent the copse of their world. Hence, I tried changing my [Server] to that [Server], though, something interrupted me. [Warning! The Game Master would transfer to the other Server! His presence wouldpletely vanish from this Server! Proceed with caution!] ''Hmmm¡­. I guess, that makes sense,'' I sighed before carefully observing those elves fighting against the monsters. And then a certain idea appeared in my mind. My smile widened as I looked at those elves before I began checking for their stats¡­ and then finding the strongest¡­ no¡­ the weakest among them. [Would you like to send [Contract] to [Elise Eva Nevti (Elf)!] for 5000 GM Points?] I clicked [Yes] as I looked at the stats of that elf girl with blonde hair. ¡­ [Location: Server 2312HA891!] [Elise Eva Nevti''s POV!] Born as the weakest among my tribe, I was never the one to be looked up to. Called me as a disgrace in my tribe, I was disowned by my own parents. Yet, I kept struggling through and through as much as I could, trying to beat fate as much as possible. When the Apocalypse descended, I pretty much lost all hope. But when I saw that everyone received a random [Gift], that could redefine fate itself, I was happy. A chance to change my worthless life¡­ something that I had been dreaming of ever since my birth! But s¡­. Some things never change, do they? [Gift: Scorched Eyes Grade: Lower Mortal Grade-3! Effects: -Allows the user to perceive me Mana in her surroundings! -Adds a touch of re in all the attacks the user sees! -For every 30 Wisdom Points that the user possesses, her eye/me based skills have their effect increased by 7% Restrictions: -Reduces the overall effect of all non-Fire and/or non-Ocr based attacks by 30%!] What I received wasn''t a blessing but a curse. A curse that killed all my efforts that I had been doing for the past 30 years. All my water and earth based skills powers reduced below what they already were. Worse? I didn''t have even a single fire based skill with me. ''It was a miracle that I was able to survive this long. Though, I doubt I wouldst long in this mad world,'' I thought as my eyes traced the fight in front of me. We were barely defending ourselves, with Avil taking the front. He was our hero, the one who received a [Heaven''s] grade gift. And was currently defending us all¡­ He was the reason, we were all alive. Whether it was before this, or whether it was now. He has always protected us, along with the elders. The Hero of the forest elves. Someone, I always looked upon¡­ a beacon of hope. And here I was. Hiding behind the trees, trying to protect myself as I cowered in fear. I¡­. Just what was I alive for? And¡­ as I was questioning the worth of my life¡­ a message appeared in front of me. A message that was going to turn my entire life upside down. [ [???] has sent you a [Contract]. Would you like to ept it?] "Huh?!" Chapter 120: [Ways of the Game Master!!] [Elise Eva Nevti''s POV!] They say, if you are desperate enough, you can even drink poison hoping to ease the pain. And while I didn''t really believe it before, I think I understand that proverb a bit more now. My life was on its edge. Even if I survive today, I have no idea if I will be able to see tomorrow. My eyes kept observing the message for a few more seconds before I looked at our hero trying to protect us with all his might. ''If it fails, I will kill myself,'' I decided that I am going to make this gamble. If worsees to worst, I will just end it all to take responsibility. And thinking that, I pressed [Yes] before another message appeared on my face. [Aren''t you cute, little one? Well. Let''s skip the details forter. For now, focus on what''s more important. Tell me, can you kill those werewolves?] I looked at that message. And even though I was surprised to see the message, I was still calm. It was odd, but it''s not the first odd thing that has happened today. "How¡­ am I going to kill them? I am too weak," I asked as I looked at that message. The others around me, observed me with a sudden surprise, but they didn''t discourage me or reprimanded me. Perhaps they were thinking the same? [Well. Let''s start with improving your gift a bit.] [Your Gift: Scorched Eyes has been Updated!] [Gift: Scorched Eyes (Growth Type) Grade:Mortal Grade-10! Experience Required to Increase the Gift: Use Skill me Eyes on 10 Enemies! Effects:For every 10 Wisdom Points that the user possesses, her eye/me based skills have their effect increased by 10% Skills Unlocked: me Eyes!] [Skill: me Eyes Grade: F (Dependent on the user''s Gift) Effect: Allows the user to add a burning effect on all targets she desires! Burning Effect enhances the attack of all me based skills by 5% that are to be used on the target!] ''Huh? This is¡­'' My eyes shook as I looked at the renewed gift that I had. A growth type gift? Does that mean it will increase as I fulfill the conditions? Though perhaps I was surprised a bit too early because¡­ something far better appeared in front of me in the next few seconds. [ [???] has given you a new skill [Phoenix''s Eyes!]] "Eva¡­ your eyes!" One of the vigers who was with me, looked at my eyes, while I kept gazing at the new skill that I had received. [Skill: Phoenix''s Eyes Grade: B Effects: -All the me Based Skills that the user has will have their effect increased by 100%! -All the Eye Based Skills that the user has will have their effect increased by 100%! -Increases the User''s Mana and Health Regeneration by 100%! -Everytime the user uses a me based skill, she gains an Aura of me that circles around the user and does damage to all the enemies around her based on her Wisdom points. For every 4 Wisdom Points the user has, the aura does 10 Attack Damage. A maximum of 10 Auras can exist at the same time and each aura remains for a maximum of 10 seconds. Each aura''s time limit is independent from the other auras that are created. Additional effects: +40 Wisdom! +40 Intelligence!] [I couldn''t get anything better than this for you. Maybeter, I will? Have fun though] Another message appeared as I observed the skill over and over again. The people around me took a few steps back while I slowly turned at the hero who was getting a bit exhausted against the never ending werewolves. "AVIL!!!!" I shouted making him, take a momentarily peak at me. And then I shouted again, "USE A FIRE SKILL ON THEM!!" Even though he did not understand my intention, he understood the seriousness of my voice. And then following suit, he began chanting something. If I am not wrong it was one of his main skills, me Burst, that allowed him to create a ring of fire around him, killing everyone thates in contact with it. "FLAME BURST!!!" He shouted as he targeted everyone around him, and then using the newly found skills that I had, I targeted all the 14 werewolves at once. [Your Gift: Scorched Eyes has increased by one minor Grade!] Another message came but that was not important. My eyes looked at the increased effects of the me burst. It was a minor change, but the effects were prominent. Even Avil was surprised as he looked at me with a hint of curiosity. And I, now surrounded by 14 Auras of me around me, looked rather powerful on my own. -Roar!!! Finding the source of threat, those werewolves now targeted me as they ran as fast as they could. Avil was about to take a step, but perhaps he looked at the sudden me of excitement on my face, he paused. And as for the werewolves¡­ The Auras burnt them into charcoal before they could even get 10 meters close to me. A single attack was all that was needed to kill them. [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Lesser Werewolf!] [+2000 Points] [You have killed an E-Grade Monster: Lesser Werewolf!] [+2000 Points!] . . And after a dozen of those messages appeared, I finally looked at Avil with a renewed hope. Perhaps¡­ all those efforts that I had shown for the past few decades¡­ I guess, they didn''t go into vain after all. ¡­ [Adrian''s POV!] "That 23 Million Points were worth it, I guess? It''s going to take some time, but given her gift''s growth condition, she should be able to take it to [Upper Mortal Realm] as long as she keeps fighting¡­ and with that, those 5 Million shoulde back sooner orter," I pondered as it was fun. I wanted to guide her through the skills and everything else, but it will take away all the fun so I should let her figure it all out on her own. Maybe struggle a little before standing back up on her own two feets. "Should I try taking in more people under my contract? It certainly does seem quite a nice way to increase my reach to the other servers. Hmmm¡­. All right, let''s spend some more time with it," I pondered as I decided to take 10 different people from 10 different servers including this one. If I can manage that much, I should take another stepter on. It won''t farm me a lot of GM Points in the beginning, but it should serve me a lot in the long run as long as even half of the people make it to the end. ''My own main Characters, huh? Not bad,'' I smiled as I then began looking through the other servers. I went through hundreds of servers, each with their unique atmosphere, and each with their own unique flow of power. And even though it took sometime, I was able to find a couple of people that were to my liking. A Saint that was left behind by her followers. A loyal lizardmen soldier that was left behind by the king as a sacrifice. An illegitimate son, who lost his path. A fallen noble dark elf. An Angel that was banished by their Gods. A Queen that was betrayed by the King. A Goblin who was nothing but a ve. A Subus Maid, who lost her purpose of life in the face of absolute power. And finally¡­ A dragonling that was captured by the humans and was now on hisst breath to survive the tutorial as the other humans sacrificed him for their own good. "Well. If they can make it to the tower, let''s see if I can meet themter. It would be fun meeting them after they had grown to a new peak, moving out of their cocoon," I mumbled with a smile before I looked at their [Gifts] again. Each of them now had a growth based gift that suited them the best. Despite being at an initial phase, with a B-Grade skill in their hand, and given the nature of the scenario around them, they should surely be able to grow without much problems. Though if they still fail to do so, then it''s their own problem. "Ah! Before I forget¡­" I then recalled that I can mark them to increase my [Gift]. Even if it doesn''t happen now, maybeter, it will ease my worries as well. And then I marked 3 of them¡­ [Your Gift Cartography has been increased by 1 Minor Grade!] Huh? Wait! Is the of those 3 that small¡­. No¡­ it''s not that. Perhaps¡­ my gift takes only the area within the confinement of the tutorial as a whole floor? Hey¡­ doesn''t that mean¡­ I gulped a little before I began marking the others as well. [Your Gift Cartography has been increased by 1 Minor Grade!] [Your Gift Cartography has been increased by 1 Minor Grade!] [Gift: Cartography! Grade: Upper Mortal Grade - 6 Experience Required to Upgrade to next Grade: Map 15 Worlds/Floors minimum 50% each! Effects: -Allows the user to see real-time information of everything that he has mapped! -Unlocks: Teleportation Points! -Basic Skills: [Eidetic Memory] [Spatial Mastery] [Dexterity!] -Linked Skills: [Illusion!] -Evolved Skills: [Cartographer''s Vision!] [Absolute Insight!] [Omniscient Recall!] Additional Effects: -Mark: Allow the user to mark 40 Targets of his choice! -Shared Senses: The user can use [Cartographer''s Vision!] [Absolute Insight!] [Omniscient Recall!], through the Marked person''s senses!] [Teleportation Points: Allows the user to set permanent Teleportation Points, to where he can instantly teleport to. (Current Limit: 5)] Chapter 121: [Those that I love more than my life!] [Gift: Cartography! Grade: Upper Mortal Grade - 0 Experience Required to Upgrade to next Grade: Recreate an entire Floor with your own Ability! Effects: -Allows the user to see real-time information of everything that he has mapped! -Unlocks: Teleportation Points! -Linked Skills: [Illusion!] -Evolved Skills: [Cartographer''s Vision!] [Absolute Insight!] [Omniscient Recall!] [7th Sense!] [Creator''s Hands!] Additional Effects: -Mark: Allow the user to mark 100 Targets of his choice! -Shared Senses: The user can use [Cartographer''s Vision!] [Absolute Insight!] [Omniscient Recall!] [7th Sense!], through the Marked person''s senses! -Allows the user to create any Map andyer it with the original one existing (The User will be shown hints of how to bring the changes to the initial map to reach the desired oue)!] [Teleportation Points: Allows the user to set permanent Teleportation Points, to where he can instantly teleport to. (Current Limit: 10)] When I noticed that I could increase the grade of the [Cartography], simply by contracting the yers on the other servers, I immediately decided to bind as many people as possible while trying to make sure that they still fit the criteria of ''type of main characters'' I want. Even though it was 3 times more than the number of people I wanted to handle at once, I guess, it''s fine as long as the rewards are worth it. Though thest requirement was totally different from what was presented in front of me. To change the entire floor with my own skill¡­ I didn''t know whether it would be easy or hard until I tried it firsthand. Putting that thought at the back of my mind, I started looking through the new skills that I had got after all these upgrades. [Skill: Cartographer''s Vision! Grade: S (Linked with Cartography) Effects: Allows the user to Map anything around 1000 Kilometers around! Everything that the user has mapped, can be recorded upto 240 hours, and the previous events can be yed as per the user''s wish! Additional Effect: The Skill can show its effect even by the area mapped by the Marked Target!] [Absolute Insight! Grade: S (Linked with Cartography) Effects: Allows the user to gain information about a substance or item to the most minute depth. The user can calcte its molecrposition and the basics of its functioning, along with all other macro or micro molecr aspects. The user can identify the defects of all objects, their positive and negative points in depth, and if focused, even the entireyout of how it''s built will be shown to the user!] [Omniscient Recall! Grade: S (Linked with Cartography) Effects: Allows the user to remember, store and recall all the information he has sensed. If the user wishes, he can see a 4 dimensional movie ying in front of him which he can see from all the angles and all the speeds possible. He can also show that information to others around him, showing them what he remembers!] [7th Sense! Grade: S (Linked with Cartography) Effect: Opens up the 7th Sense of the user, allowing him to sense everything around him for at least 10 kilometers around him. The user can choose to focus on certain aspects and ignore the other aspects without any problem. Additional Effects: If any or all the other senses of the user are removed for some reason, the 7th sense will be enhanced to its maximum potential, allowing the user to near mimic the other senses without causing any noticeable problem for the user.] [Creator''s Hands! Grade: S (Linked with Cartography) Effects: Allows the user to recreate anything he has seen with [Absolute Insight!]. As longa as the user meets all the bare minimum requirements for the creation of the object such as mana, energy, materials, etc. He can create the same artifact with ease. Additional Effect: After the creation of an artifact, if the user tries to create an artifact that has 70% or more of the same properties, the time taken to create will be less than half of what it took to create at the first time.] ''Not exactly the same but we are touching the surface of creation skills, huh? Nice,'' I smiled as I looked at the skills that I had. They were all S-Grade even at Upper Mortal Realm, which made me wonder if I chose one of the better Gifts? Certainly other Heaven Grades were strong, but in front of what I have¡­ the others kind of feelckluster, don''t they? And as I was trying to understand the depth of the skills that I had, I heard a voice. "Hey¡­ can you help me out here? I know I am not in a position to ask you anything¡­ but can you please help me out here¡­. I beg you¡­" It was a cry. And perhaps because I was partially sharing senses with each of my contractees, I allowed them to call out to me in case of great distress. This was to make sure that they at least have a chance to survive in the tutorial. The one that was calling me this time was of a race known as Elepsian. They looked like humans, but their body was much sturdier than a normal human. If given a closeparison, then it was like having a giant''s power in a human body. Though with their strong body, their ability to regenerate was much more reduced inparison. A single effective strike could be lethal as it can chronically kill them in the long term. And curses like weakened had a worse effect on them, far worse than poisons or paralysis. It wasn''t hard to gather information about them as my newfound skills allowed me to gain all that information with one look at them. Surely [Absolute Insight] was overpowered in its own domain. Looking close to his condition, he seemed to be fine. Though the problem came from his partner and his daughter. It seemed like she was on herst breath as she just barely won a battle against one of the people the couple was running away from. I looked at his child, lying unconscious in hisp, with her strength barely keeping up. On closer inspection, she had a high fever, and her body was seemingly unable to keep up with a strange disease that she had. "I beg you! I will do anything! Anything you ask for! I will sacrifice my life even! But I beg you¡­ please save my daughter and wife¡­. They are all that I have¡­. Please¡­ I beg¡­ you¡­" I paused as I looked at his gift. [Gift: Control (Growth Type) Grade: Lower Mortal Grade - 0 Experience required to increase the Grade: Fight and Win against an opponent who has 2 times more stats than you. Effect: -Allows the user to control his body movements manually to an extent, performing great tasks with ease. -The user can enhance his power momentarily and unleash many powerful attacks. Note: There will be a stronger bacsh after the usage of power! -All the skills that the user uses will be easier to control, increasing their efficiency by 10% -Once everyday the user can unleash an attack 3 times stronger than what his body allows him to. Note: The user will be bedridden for 24 hours after the usage of the attack. -Once every week, the user can unleash an attack 10 times stronger than what his body allows him to. Note: The user will be bedridden for a month after the usage of the attack.] ''Hmmm. I simply changed his gift into a growth type. But due tock of GM Points, I didn''t give him any skills to apany it,'' I mumbled as I saw the situation in front of me. And then pondering a bit more, I then looked at the conditions of the woman and the child again. [GM Points: 3 Million 237 Thousand Points!] ''A skill that helps him heal himself and others? Surely that would be the most beneficial for him in this scenario¡­. Though¡­ '' I then thought of another idea before creating something that seemed more probable for the situation right now. [Blessing: Those that I love more than my life! Grade: B Effect: Allows the user topletely heal everyone to their peak health in an area of 10 meters around him! Conditions to be fulfilled: -The user can only use this blessing once every 30 days! -Only those loved by the user more than his own life can be healed by the blessing!] [Would you like to create the blessing for 1 million 200 thousand GM Points?] Though before sending it to him, I passed on a message first. [I can''t save them.] His eyes sank down as soon as he saw the message. [But that doesn''t mean it isn''t possible.] And his eyes widened as he saw the next message. Sending the blessing at him, I saw his eyes widening even more, before he immediately used that blessing without wasting even a single second. To see one''s wife and children die in their own arms, as he begs for mercy to the god to prevent what seems imminent. It shakes the core of a person, takes out the most closed weakness even of the strongest man. But then again¡­ not all needs to go through that face. At least those who are following me. At least those who are under me. They won''t be finding themselves alone in their valor, in their pain¡­ and in their sorrow. "Well. I wonder where this path would take me," I questioned as I looked at that man praying with joyous tears in his eyes, before I closed the screen and then prepared for the next tutorial. Chapter 122: [Creation Index!] Do you know about ''the idea of the truth''? A fact that people know but cannot confirm. They believe in its existence from the moment they are born till the day they die. Though it doesn''t cause any problem in their normal way of living, if once corrected, it might change the entire outlook of one''s life. The idea of truth is a necessary evil for a being to thrive in the world. What will happen after death? What will happen after the dies? Do people get to have another life or do people have lived before they were born? The idea of truth is often a fascinating topic that many dwell but not go too deep into. One such idea of truth is always ''maybe we will survive this ordeal'' or ''even if we die, our next life will be better.'' It gives people hope that everything that is going to happen next is going to be better than what they are going through. A crude fantasy that even if true, had more chance of getting a worse life than what they had right now. The natives of the twin felt the chance echoing through the surface of their. Even though it was barely sensable, they felt that the of theirs was dying rather fast. All struggles that they had been through, the wars they faught, the life the had lived, seemed rather meaningless as the fate of the world was put on the table in front of them. What will happen next? Will they survive? Dozens of questions appeared in their mind before their eyes slowly gazed at the Gods that were also witnessing the end with them. Surely the Gods can save us. They are Gods after all. Like I said before, the idea of truth is a necessary evil. It has little meaning objectively, but in situations like this, where everything is inevitable, one may let his mind wander¡­ or perhaps force their mind to have such thoughts. The thought that there must be a way to save them through the imminent danger. It was the same for the guy trying to save his family. It was the same for the elf who was on the verge of sacrificing herself. And obviously, if I forgot to mention, it was the same for the people here. "What is going on? My stats are decreasing!" One of the yers spoke as he looked at his status. And as if a contagious virus, the others also began noticing the shift in their status attributes. While the panic ensued, making everyone wonder what exactly was going on, I looked at the map, or to be precise, this entire world at once. Since I have only marked the surface, I didn''t know what was going on within the core of the, but perhaps because of my newly attributed skills, it was easy to figure everything out. The was expanding. Or to be precise it was slowly ''bursting'' out. Like an explosion but extremely slowed. And while the was losing energy, the others weren''t spared from the effects either. Everyone, including the yers, the npcs and the gods, was facing the same fate. The only exceptions were the Admins, the uninvited yer, the soul of the first floor and me. While the others were simply omitted because of being ''external factors'' I was excluded because of that blessing that I received for clearing those quests. [Blessing: Loved by the Twins! Grade: SSS Effect: As long as you exist on any of the twos, there is not a single existence that can harm you!] My eyes then shifted to the entrance to the safe zone. Although there was little interference to it, as the was expanding, it wouldn''t be long until it too started copsing with the''s energy. Hmmm¡­ we have about 30 days¡­ it lines with the quest duration, huh? The Gods saw everything that I saw, and as the withered slowly in front of their eyes, theirposure broke while they tried their best to maintain their poker face. Though given the grave circumstances, it was bing harder as the time was passing. Each second felt like an eternity wasted, while they slowly turned at me, hoping I would solve their problems, whooshing it all the way. It won''t be what an ''idea of truth'' is but it''s something along the same line of thoughts. ''Well. It''s not like they are wrong though,'' I thought as I looked at the device in my hand Item: World Connector! Grade: Ex Effects: Increases the connection of the User to the World by 50%, allowing him to partially take control of the world he is in. Limit: This item can only be used once!] "Here goes nothing¡­" I mumbled as I began channeling my energy into the [World Connector!]. While they were rather thin, I think I saw threadsing out of this item. The threads spread out wide, covering the entire at once before they reached back to me. My eyes kept gazing at the map, which was seemingly still in motion. Those threads though invisible, via a quick calction, became easy to trace through. They converged and diverged, spun out and then intertwined. Forming aplex pattern, they seemed to be basing themselves over the energy of the system. An artifact that was seemingly perfect, to be able to capture the fate of the world as it was dying down, I saw those threads then further reaching out to me, while I stood there letting those threads connect with my own existence. And as soon as that happened¡­ "Save¡­ me¡­ I am¡­ scared¡­" a voice¡­ no¡­ there were two voices¡­ they echoed in my mind. Voices that felt too pure, too divine. All the while it felt refreshing, it also felt sad. Lonely. Lost. "It''s okay," I spoke as I called it out. It wasn''t hard to figure out who was speaking those words. While it was a thought that once may bear to think and wonder, I, given my situation, didn''t have the luxury to go deep into it. "Who¡­ are you?" The voices asked, making me wonder how to answer this question. There were many answers to it but in the end I chose the simplest of all, "Just a traveler from far away. Would you like me to help you out of your situation? It doesn''t seem like we have a lot of time." A strange silence ensued for a few seconds before the voices came again," please. Traveler. Help me out." And then, a strange pulsation began spreading around my body while I began connecting myself with the itself. The source of the voice, the souls of the twin, allowed me topletely connect with the twins before a message appeared in front of me. [You have established a strong connection with the Twins!] "Nora¡­ will you?" I then turned to Nora who was observing me all this time. Her gaze was filled with curiosity, it seemed as if she had dozens of questions she wanted to ask me. But knowing the situation, she put those questions aside. Nodding at my words, she then poured her energy into my body as well. While it was obvious, the threads from that artifact began enveloping Nora too. She seemed perplexed with what was happening, but even then, she didn''t let go of her hand. [You have established a strong connection with the soul of the First Floor!] [Disharmony between the two ends is forcing the elerated destruction of the source!] [The Game Master System has sensed an explosion of a high level of energy targeted at the user! Since the user is in direct connection with the hearts of the two sources, he may wish to destroy the sources using the Game Master System!] [Would you like to destroy the two sources?] It was all happening rather fast. Things progressed at an insane speed, far too much I would normally be able to handle at once. But even then, I felt calm. As if everything was under my control, I simply saw what the system message said before proceeding to the next obvious task. And that was to create a path between the two worlds. The rift''s size was enough for a single human to pass through without any problems, but given the amount of GM Points that I would require to fix the entire situation, I decided to open up the rift even more. Enough to make even an airne pass through. Though I also need to make sure that the doesn''t end up copsing the first floor and destroying both the sides. [Would you like to absorb the Miasma using [Debug!] skill?] I clicked yes. [Would you like to open up a path between the Twin world and the safe zone?!] I clicked yes. [Would you like to create a safety device between the paths¡­] I clicked yes. [Would you like to¡­] [Would you¡­] [Would you¡­] Patterns were drawn in front of me, as I keptmanding the two sides removing any coercion possible. And as themands kept going on, I even began changing the entire structure of the wherever needed. Wherever possible. Perhaps it was because of my gift? That showed me the path that I wanted to see. I had the means. I had the source. I had enough energy, materials. I had everything. And even the path that should have been shrouded in mystery¡­ it was as clear as an open empty freeway. And as I reached the conclusion¡­. [Your Gift [Cartography] has evolved into [Creation Index!]] Chapter 123: [Changes!] [Quest: Escape from Paradise! Difficulty: Intermediate! Description: The World Stability was restored by a miraculous event that reshaped the entire fate of the two worlds. Though things have moved towards a more proper path, there is still time until the two worlds will bepletely functional. And since your work is mostly done here, it is your turn to return from where you came from. Objective: Using the path provided by the system, return back to the Safe Zone! Reward: +25,000 Skill Points, [Skill Upgrade Coupon (A)], [Random Item Box (S)] ] As soon as the entire process reached its conclusion and the direction of the fate of the changed, the contents of the main quest also shifted from its previous tasks. All the yers observed the new quest with a mixture of incredulity and dubiety, wondering about a dozen things in their mind, and a dozen more to think about. Though as primal as their instincts were in these regards, in the end, the reached conclusion was that they should just focus on what''s in front of them, rather than what once was. For them, the most important was the reward, and yes, they seemed to be satisfied with what they were getting at the end of the task. While the yers mingled, and shared their thoughts regarding whats, whens, and hows, the NPCs had a contrasting view of what transpired in front of them. By the Gods, they were blessed. For a future that was theirs¡­ or so is what they believed. The was returning to stability, the earthquakes were reduced, the dying flora waa returning to its prime, and the weaknesses were gone as if there were none. The Gods, the two, the ''reason'' for their ''rebirth'' looked at the with the same unbelievable expression. They were joyous nheless for it was a joyous asion, but the question of ''I am not dreaming, am I?'' Was apparent on their faces. In any case, they exined the changes that were brought. They scolded the people once again, and told them how ''hard'' it was for them to prevent the destruction, and how much they had to sacrifice for the stability of the. So will the NPCs listen to the Gods? Perhaps yes, perhaps not. And will they follow their words to the core of their hearts? Perhaps yes, perhaps not. But in the end, there was hope that things will be different, things will be better, and once again the ''idea of truth'' was sown in their hearts. "This is a bit troublesome," the Admin of the tutorial, Balthazar, had his own trouble regarding the entire situation. Even though he wanted this entire process to go as it had gone, he didn''t expect the changes to affect the other areas of the tutorials. Or to be precise, the other nearby servers where the tutorial was taking ce. The changes that were happening here created a chain reaction that changed the quests of the other tutorials to match the difficulty in all the servers. The tower, after all, doesn''t allow favoritism, there is nothing special for the tower, so either they all go down, or they all go up. Though luckily in this case, the tutorial only changed the difficulty of the quests, reducing it to a lower range, something with which the majority was happy. However it doesn''t change the fact that it was going to create a wave of confusion among the higher ups, the ones that kanage the tutorials. And being the center point that was responsible for all these changes, a headache was sure toe to Admin Balthazar, who was watching over the eye of the storm. "Well. At least it opens up certain possibilities," Balthazar spoke as he then observed the area around him. Thes, the safe zone and the rift. Everything that was present here was a fact. A fact that the ''change'' that people would normally call out as an absurdity was possible. It was certainly possible. Everything that has happened here was of paramount importance. The mere fact that the world of the tutorial can be connected with the safe zone, opened up the possibility that the rules of the tower that everyone was blindly following can be bent. Those things that others considered as impossible, were but mere thoughts and nothing more. It opened up possibilities that were not only limited to the tutorials but higher floors as well. Things rted to the boundation of the rules set by the tower, things rted with the authority of the tower, and the openings that were soon to be created within the cracks of the tower. Soon a change wasing for the entire tower¡­ a change, a storm or perhaps even a rebellion. And as for the main perpetrator behind this entire change, Adrian, he was currently walking around the rift passage, eating a piece of strawberry pancake, as he looked at the texture of the passage that he created a few minutes ago. He had no idea of what he had just done. Or perhaps he had a rough idea, but not the extent to which it will affect the tower. And if I were to be honest, it doesn''t concern him much either. After all¡­ another wave was going to affect the tower soon¡­ about a certain God [???] that is changing the entirety of the system. One that is directly connected with Adrian, and yet, has nothing to do with him. "I would have preferred it to be yellow," Nora spoke as she looked at the color of the pathway, though Adrian shook his head as he corrected her,"nope. ck and white is the best," and then he continued walking, checking for more ways to improve the pathway. And as he was walking, behind him were Nora, Rosaliyah and Balthazar. Observing him with extreme curiosity, as they wondered who or what exactly Adrian was. And more importantly, who is this [???] behind him, that is capable of doing what he has just done. Chapter 124: [Changes II!] As Adrian walked through the rift passage, he checked for any possible aberrations that could potentially break the rift. Though after multiple confirmation with the [Game Master System], and using his own skills, he was able to break through all the minor problems until there were none. His eyes looked at the minute traces of lingering ''corrupted energy'' that he erased with ease using the [Debug!] skill. "What should I do next after this?" He mumbled in a low voice as he kept looking at the wall of the rift passage. As for the current time, he had multiple paths that would take him to the desired end. Whether it was adventuring with his friends, or it was looking out for the yers that were in the other servers, or even the paths that he would travel alone searching for the mysteries of the tower, all the paths would be viable for him, providing time to rx as well as grow without much to care about. There was one more path that he could take as a means of rxation. And that was to stay near the rift, develop a road on both sides and create two settlements on each side of the rift. Since he was the one who created the rift passage, if he were to hold a monopoly on it, no one wouldin one bit. And even if he wanted to keep it free, or be unbothered by it, someone else would surely take advantage of the path one or another. ''It''s not like Ick time or anything,'' he thought as he looked at the next tutorial quest time. [Time until next tutorial: 99 Days: 23 hours: 59 minutes!] It was longer than the ''few days'' he got after the first phase of the tutorial, and as someone who cleared the tutorial first, he was able to check the details of the rewards as well. Though for the most part, it didn''t affect him as much. As much as the Tutorial gave him reward, he was able to secure much more than that with the [Game Master System] itself. [GM Points: 17 Billion 317 Million 231 Thousand!] Part of it was because of the bet, while the rest was because of his getting points from the corrupted Mana. Plus, his own gift [Cartography] was at [Heaven Grade!] as well. It has evolved into [Creation Index!] something that Adrian didn''t expect at all. [Gift: Creation Index! Grade: Heaven''s Grade! Experience required to upgrade: Create a settlement that is recognized by at least 1000 Individuals! Effect: Allows the user to observe, analyze and store anything he has seen into his memory to the finest details! An archive memory of all the things that the user has recorded will be maintained and can be easily essed by the user. Recreation of all things is possible as long as the sufficient energy cost is maintained! Additional Effects: -Map Creation Ovey Possible of what the user wishes to create! Extension to Marked Individuals (41/100) -Extreme Sense: Allows the user to sense and observe beyond what was normal! -Teleportation Points Avable: 10!] A smile formed on Adrian''s face as he looked at the improved version of his gift. Even though a lot has changed, most of his skills were retained from the previous version. They weren''t visible in the system status, but since most of them were rted to his mental ability, he was able to use them without much problems. Even the map creation was possible, which gave him ess to at least 100 km around him without much problem, allowing him to see everything that was going on around him, without much difficulty. And the plus point was that the idea of creating a settlement, lines with the next task to upgrade the gift. Or to be honest, it''s because of the next task that Adrian thought about creating a settlement on both sides of the rift. Adrian had a general idea of what he needed to do now, but before that he needed to deal with the current circumstances. And that was to talk to the people who were currently following behind him. "It''s done. While it''s notpletely stable, that''s only because the process couldn''t be rushed any further. Give it about a month and it will be a permanent change. Though I advise anyone to not do anything stupid to the bridge. The result would be anything but fruitful," Adrian spoke as he stretched out his hands, before he walked towards the group. The three nodded at him before Nora spoke,"is that so?" She had her own thoughts regarding it, but in the end she could only sigh and say,"I still can''t believe it really happened." While they were all really going all out on this n that Adrian gave, it was rather hard to believe that something like this really happened. It was like a believer meeting a god whom he prayed for day and night. In a way, he alway believed in it, but to meet God itself is certainly unbelievable in many ways. In any ways, there were noints from them, as they were merely enthralled with what transpired. "I will be reporting this to the leader," Risaliyah informed as she looked at the passageway. Though it was a normal statement considering that she was going to do it anyway, she spoke of it as a mere reminder that she will be doing it. Another reason why she reminded Adrian about it was because she wanted to know what thoughts he would have regarding this matter known to the others. Though Adrian didn''t seem to mind much as he simply nodded before answering," sure. Tell him he is wee here anytime¡­ also there was something I wanted to talk about with him. If he everes here, tell him to meet me before leaving." Risaliyah nodded, though before she could speak further, the Two Gods appeared before everyone, their eyes containing intense gratitude as they walked towards Adrian, bowed and then politely spoke, "Thank you for protecting our world. Is there anything we can do for you, Sir Crowley?" Chapter 125: [Changes III!] "Thank you for protecting our world. Is there anything we can do for you, Sir Crowley?" Balthazar observed the scene in front of him as the Two Gods bowed down to a yer. The yer simply smiled at them as he spoke, "I am thinking of creating a settlement here. One on each side and cing a toll of sorts. Will it be all right to do that?" Adrian asked, fully knowing that the Gods won''t object to it all. Since he was the reason this entire world still exists right now, something like this was nothing to the Gods. They can even give a portion of the world to Adrian, if he asked for it. Though thinking about it, Balthazar thought what Adrian asked for was the best thing he could ask for in this situation. Asking for creating two settlements and holding a monopoly on the two settlements would be humble in many ways. But in the long run, those settlements can even turn into kingdoms that will be the focal point for the first floor and the twos. Depending upon the way the development of both the world takes ce, there is surely going to be a lot of cultural exchange, that is going to reshape the entirety of the first floor itself. New monsters, new materials, new weapons and new powers. There were a lot of things that were going to attract a huge amount of yers, even many from the higher floors. Balthazar knew that based on how the tower functions, this was one the best things to invest into right now as its potential was much more than what the others could expect. The only other person who had an idea of the potential of the two settlements was Risaliyah, though she seemed to be fine with Crowley having it. "We will provide you with all the support we can," the Two Gods spoke simultaneously as a smile beamed on their faces. They were more than happy to support Adrian with his settlement building, and were probably even ready to personally help in creating that settlement. Though Adrian shook his head as he spoke,"it''s all right. All I was asking was for permission. To be honest, it was a task given to me by [???] to manage the rift for the next 2 months, and I thought it would be better if I do it this way. Another reason was rted to my gift of modification. Perhaps because I modified a lot of things in the rift, it increased by another major grade, reaching [Heaven''s Grade], and the next thing it asked me to modify was to create a [System] of sorts that would function independently without my interference." "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" A silence ensued as Adrian looked at the stupefied faces of everyone that was present here. Balthazar then sighed as it was a bit too much for him to handle¡­ the number of surprises that Adrian had shown him¡­ honestly it was a bit too much. "I will take my leave now. If you need anything from me, you can directly call me out. Since I have marked you as a priority yer, anything you speak to me, I should be able to hear it," Balthazar spoke as he massaged his head before politely taking a leave from there. The others looked at the area where he was for a few moments before they turned back to Adrian. "I should take my leave as well. It was fun being here, but since the work is more or less done, I need to give my reports to the leader as well," Risaliyah spoke as she was about to leave as well, but Nora became a bit sad as this meant that Risaliyah will once again forget about Nora. Looking at their silent yet sad exchange, Adrian sighed before he moved towards Risaliyah and then checked upon her system. Then thinking a couple of things he then created a new thing, [Title: The one who remembers souls! Grade: S Effect: Allows the user to remember all the existences that are deemed [To be Forgotten] by the Tower!] [Would you like to create the Title for 400 Million GM Points?] ''Costly,'' Adrian thought before creating the title. As far as GM Points were concerned, he was about to use a lot of it, and then gain a dozen more as the time passed. While they may be required for the skills, gifts and title, he won''t be needing it anymore for the items he had. He can simply create/modify them he wants just by using his gift. "This!" Risaliyah saw the new title on her interface. Her eyes were wide open as she looked at the title before Adrian spoke,"it was something that [???] asked me to do it. I can''t still manage everything but with my gift, I can partially use his authority for things like this. It was also an experiment of sorts to see if I can make changes to the system of others." Nora looked at them confused, before Adrian exined to her what he just did, before her eyes widened as well. A smile formed on her face then as she then hugged Risaliyah tightly before she spoke out, "So you won''t forget me Risa!" Risaliyah still didn''te out of her stupor, while Adrian chuckled a little before looking at the two Gods who were observing everything from a distance. He put his hand on his chin, as if thinking of something before he moved closer to them and asked, "The''s stability is ensured but there are a lot of things that are still left. Especially with the minor destruction that urred at the beginning. Since you two hold the most authority, can I leave the management of those urance to you guys?" Both the Gods knew about the changes that had urred to thes, and they both nodded with a serious expression. And then politely bowing to Adrian once again, they thanked him and then left from there regarding the matters of the twos. "Now then, what to do next?" Adrian pondered as he looked at Nora hugging Risaliyah tightly. Chapter 126: [Creating a settlement!] [Adrian''s POV!] I gained a lot from this tutorial. Especially at the end where I received a lot of GM points. The bet itself gave me a huge amount of GM Points, and I wondered if I should save a lot of it so that in the next tutorial, I could gain a lot moreter. It was a viable idea, and I had already nned to have at least 10 Billion GM Points for the next bet. ''Though that is something forter,'' I thought as I looked at the empty grasnd in front of me. I had a couple of ideas for the settlement but first¡­ "Are you going to watch me create the entire thing? Aren''t you busy with being the Soul of the first floor or something?" I asked as I looked at Nora who was excitedly walking beside me. Her eyes were gleaming at everything that I was doing. Wasn''t really annoying but still it was concerning given the position that she holds. Is she allowed to have a break for this long? "It''s alright. ir is smart. It will be a bit hard for her, but she should be able to find her ways to manage the floor without me. In the first ce, I never wanted to do it anyways¡­ just that ir was the only one who remembered me all this time, so I had to at least maintain a friendly rtion with her, or else, I might end up being too lonely," Nora spoke as her expression turned solemn in the end. Well, I guess she had her own situation. "All right. Since you are gonna be here, help me out a bit then," I spoke as I created an [Illusion] of a small settlement that contained roughly 4-6 apartments that could hold 50 to 60 yers, a few restaurants and a couple of shops selling weapons and items. There were wooden walls around the area, a town post and a few other things that a small settlement should have. Other than the bare minimum, there was one more facility, the most important one, was a Transportation Circle, that I was going to create using my [Teleportation Point], and making a few changes that allows the users to travel through it at the cost of a few points. It was my idea of connecting the two worlds with the safe zone, and perhaps creating even more settlements that are connected to each other throughout the twin worlds. I mean, traveling all the way from the safe zone to the rift would take days, and then there were questions about the safety as well. Not everyone was capable of killing B-Grade monsters on their own. "I don''t like the look of those apartments. They aren''t fancy enough, too rigid for my taste," Nora spoke out her opinion, while I nodded at her. I just gave out a basic 5 stories apartment with each floor holding 2-3 rooms. It was simr to the apartments back in my hometown, so I thought it would give a basic foundation to the ideas that I and Nora had. "What kind of apartments do you prefer?" I asked as I looked at her, at which she pondered for a brief moment before answering, "Something that gives people relief? A ce where they can rx, maybe? Like the safe zone¡­ Do you think you can create something like that?" A barrier maybe possible? "As for the houses¡­ is it necessary to create such big apartments? Can''t we create something smaller? I honestly don''t like the idea of so many people living in a single building," Nora then added a few more of her ideas into the construction. "We aren''t limited to space, and we can even increase the size of the ce. It''s not difficult, but I wanted something that canter expand into a city, and further into a kingdom if required," I spoke out as I looked at the area behind the rift. The rift was a simple ''gate'' that connected the two ces. One can even think of it as a portal that connected that first floor to the two worlds. So, my idea of creating a settlement was to create the entire thing around the rift as a center. "Something that can be expanded into a kingdom, huh? How about building a town center first? Maybe we can make it just around the rift and then we can surround the rift with something to protect it? Later that town center can expand into a town hall, and then into a castle?" Nora added some nice ideas into it, while I totally agreed with her. There was a river nearby, and on the other side of the rift, on the first floor, there was a waterfall as well. Maybe I can make some natural attractions while I am at it? Though it would hinder a couple of ideas that I had thought previously. My idea revolved around the points that both the cities should look simr in every aspect, maybe I can also add a couple of differences so that people don''t get confused on which/floor they are? "Hmmm. Make the Town Center a bit bigger, and keep an open space," Nora then tookmand as she guided me in creating the settlement. Most of the things were going to be rebuilt, so it was fine to let her do what she wanted. But still, it wasn''t like she didn''t have any idea of what she was doing. So for the most part, this was surely going to serve as a foundation of the kingdom that I was going to create in the future. As for the cost of creation, I honestly had no idea how much energy was going to be required to create all these buildings. ''I could only hope, it''s something I can afford,'' I sighed as I knew that I was going to need to find another way of increasing my total energy permanently. After all, creating something out of nothing was certainly going to cost a lot. Chapter 127: [Creating a Settlement II!] I looked at the area around me, saving its features in my memory. From the looks, it looked like an elven city of the forest, with mechanical intermixing here and there. There were ideas to incorporate various stores in between that would entangle the yers while also a dozen of multi-storied apartments that were lined together in the settlement. Even though it was multistoried, there were connecting bridges between each floor, creating ayered appearance of the entire city. The trees that stretched from one edge to another added anotheryer of beauty to the settlement, though they were merely there to provide space for further development of the settlement when expansion was needed. And for now, this entire settlement can hold more than a 1000 yers easily. "All right. Since the basics are done, let''s start with the construction," I mumbled as I started with the Town Center first. The central building was the first to be constructed. After talking for about an hour with Nora about how the Town Center should look, we reached a conclusion that the number ofyers of the city, that is 4 for now, should reflect the number of upper floors that the Town Center should have. So, it was going to be a 4 storied building with arge hall, with multiple facilities in it. Since it was going to hold the rift at its center, we decided to seal the entrance for the time being. The reason was simple. The yers can use the teleportation circles on the outside to move from one side to another. As for the rift itself, it was going to be under heavy protection from various invaders that could potentially harm the rift. Hence, the ground floor of the town center was going to be locked under various spells and stuff. The only one who could have ess to it, would be me, the only one who can manage the rift. "All right. Here goes nothing," I then began to create a cuboid shaped wall that covered the entire rift from all sides. The shape of the cubois was in alignment with the upper floors, covering the length of 100, breadth of 50 and a height of 40 meters respectively. As for the Energy Cost. [20,000/32,000!] It was still a lot. With my current Energy Regeneration, I could regenerate about 100 Energy per second, but since my maximum was 32,000, I can''t createrge structures at once. Before moving on to create the next target, I first enhanced the defense of the wall by spending about 500 million GM points on it. Since the sole focus was on defense, reflection and regeneration, I was able to create an SS-Grade Barrier that surrounded the cuboid building. And with that done, I then moved to create mud around the town center that covered about a 100 meters more around the cuboid. In a way, including the cuboid base, the entire floor of the town center was 500 meters in diameter with the rift at its center. The flooring was made up of wood, as I created everything slowly, focusing on minute details, before moving to create pirs for the walls at the corner. Outside of what would be the walls, there was a circr stream of water that flowed around the town center. I was nning to have a few fishes swim in it. There were 4 stairways that stretched in 4 directions, stemming from the center, each connected to a road that directly reached the 4 entrances of the city. At the sides that were uncovered within the town center, there would be lifts that would serve as a medium to move between the floors, about 4 on each side, totalling 16 within the town center and many more around the city. The areas in between the wall and the exterior, would be filled with a lush of green, having various aesthetically visible nts and trees that had the special properties of creating a rxing aroma, allowing the guests to rx as soon as they enter the town center. Within the town center, the 3 floors would contain the adventurers guild, the Council hall and a room for my own personal use, respectively. There will be a symmetry of houses, shops and a bunch more, each properly connected with each other on everyyer of the city, creating aplex yet properly functioning city for the people to stay at. The symmetry will only increase as the settlement develops further, with the creation of more buildings like industrialplexes, training halls, independent adventurer''s guild etc. I created everything one by one without much difficulty. Even though I was losing energy pretty much rapidly, I was able to restore it within minutes in between. Since I wasn''t in a hurry, I also spared some moments to look at how the other people I have contracted with, are doing right now. "Not bad." And much to my delight, most of them were doing rather well right now. With their new found powers, they were able to rebuild their status and increase their powers as much as they could. Watching them grow somehow made me proud of myself. Time passed as I kept building the entire town center myself. I kept in check with my friends as well, and they were faring well. I told them to wait in the city as I had an ''insider information'' that a teleportation circle was going to be formed soon, so they don''t need to travel at all. And thus, they decided to wait within the city, doing their own things while at it. My eyes then rechecked my contractees and I chuckled at their ways of doing things. It was like watching an anime, but just in real life, real people. Kind of fun, not gonna lie. A smile formed on my face as I looked at each of them, before my eyes reached a certain individual who was struck on something unfortunate. Thinking if I should help him out or not, I first decided to wait and watch how he was going to get out of the situation he was in. Chapter 128: [Black and White!] In a wide area that seemed to be a front garden, there were people collected around the central elevated tform. The people wore red and white robes, each of them holding a long spear in their hands. At the elevated tform, there were two people, dressed in a rather colorful attire. Due to the nature of their attire, they were easy to spot and were supposed to gather a lot of attention, but rather than focusing on them, all the people were looking at the gate of that wide garden where a man dressed in ck was standing. Hair donned in white like the clouds in the sky, and eyes deep as the thick blood red, he looked at the couple with intense hate as he gripped the two katanas tightly. Wearing a ck dress, contrasting to the white that everyone was wearing, showed his standing among the people there. Taking the first step towards the elevated tform, he looked at the 100s of men standing in between. His vigor increased as he looked at pointed spears in his direction. -Whoosh! -sh! -sh! -sh! A dash and three shes. That was enough for him to slice through a dozen men, before he prepared for another step. -Thwack! But a spear pierced a portion of his hand, making him barely lose the grip of the sword. Though tightening it even more, he red at the man who just attacked him. -sh! And then with a semi circr sh, he killed a few more there. As time passed, blood from his enemies started coloring his white hair red, and soaking the ck kimono he was wearing, he started looking more and more like the devil he was called out to be. -sh! -sh! The men jumped at him, fearlessly as they aimed at the life of the man in ck, now red. Even though dozens were dying in front of them, theck of fear was easy to observe in their eyes. All they cared about was to get at least a hit on the man in front of them. The fight continued as dozens died, and then died a dozen more. It was meaningless, yet there was some meaning to it. Odd enough, nobody cared about anything more than what was in front of them. Was it because they were mad? To not concern their lives, to be ready to die without even a single hesitation on their faces? No. It wasn''t anything like that. It was simply¡­ that is how they had lived their lives. To die for the person whom they work for. If they failed toply with the orders given by the higher ups. What awaited them was something far worse than death. Even one can say that dying here was liberation. Because of the man standing at the high elevation, the guy dresses in red, blue and purple. He held more than just authority on the lives of those below. With his Gift that allowed him to take control over everything around him, and take control over anybody around him, he soon dered himself as the king. The one above all. The strongest despite little power on his own. The girl with him was the girl that the man in ck loved, a typical love story. A strange love story. The girl looked emotionlessly at her past lover. Was she mind controlled? At least that''s what the man in ck was thinking. Often I wonder what is love? Often I question, what is love? Though whatever it may be¡­ it certainly wasn''t what the girl held for the boy in ck, and neither what the boy in white held for that girl. -sh! X 3 -sh x 4 -sh x 3 -sh x 2 A dozen shes more, and a dozen fell down. The boy reached the elevated tform. Killing the men one by one, he took a step at the stair, killing the men one by one, he took another. And at the end when there were none, he stood alone, bathed in the blood red. Observing the man who could control everything, he closed his eyes preparing for a blind fight. It wasn''t a handicap but the only way to fight against him. One look and everything was lost. One look and all will be meaningless. -Whoosh! -Whoosh! Ran the ck man towards his lover, hoping to harm and not kill. And ran the woman towards her ex lover, hoping to kill and not harm. A tragedy, one may say. In the end, the only one who will smile will be the viin. Not the viin in the white. [ [???] has bestowed you with the skill [Blood Control(A)!] But the Viin that I am going to create. [Skill: Blood Control Grade: A Effects: Allows the user to use Blood as a medium! -The user''s blood sense will be enhanced to its peak, allowing him to ''see'' everything around him just by locating the blood in the area! -The user can create a weapon of blood, coat his own weapons in blood and enhance the power of the weapon! -The user''s ability to control his own blood increases by 500%! -The user can use the enemies'' blood to heal his own body! -Allows the user to take the enemies blood and temporarily increase his stats!] -ng! The girl attacked the vitals of the man, but failed as the attack got easily parried. Pushing the girl away, the man in ck began to sense all the blood around him. Even though his eyes were closed, he could see everything around him. And the message that I sent him, made him confused, wondering what I want in return, he wanted to pose a question. s the situation in front of him, urged him to focus only on what was in front. Continuing his fight, he decided to dy the questions toter. For what was in front of him was of utmost importance. And this small time frame was enough for me to type something that would make him mine¡­ With a smile on my face, I sent another message to him. [Two sentences, Kite. Your girlfriend isn''t being mind controlled. And your sister can be cured.] Chapter 129: [Black and White II!] [Kite''s POV!] [Two sentences, Kite. Your girlfriend isn''t being mind controlled. And your sister can be cured.] The message appeared in front of me, making my eyes widen as I looked at them. Even though they were closed, I was still surprised to say the least. Not because of the first message that told me of the betrayal of the girl that I loved but because of the second part that told me that there was a way that I could save my sister. About the betrayal, I already had an inkling about it since my brother in arms told me about how he heard her bad mouthing behind my back. The reason why I was here was because I just got to know that the one who poisoned my sister was also this son of a bitch. I wanted to know his reasons for doing so. Why did he hate me so much? And why does he push himself so much to make things hard for me and my sister? Just what is the reason behind his ideals? -ng! -ng! With my ''eyesight'' returning, I could easily ''see'' the pattern with which that bitch was going to attack me. In a way, I was able to see much better than before. Perhaps I should blind myselfpletely from now on? Not a bad proposition. -ng! -ng! The reason I wasn''t killing the bitch was also because I still had lingering feelings for her. I had questions I needed answers to. Hence, I merely parried her attack, while moving closer to that guy with the ability to "charm" anyone with one direct look in his eyes. "You monster! How dare you!!!" That bastard shouted, his voice echoing all around as he red at me. His dirty red blood, pumped by his heart felt rather strange. I felt like I crush him like a bug as he slowly took a step back, one step at a time. [Gift: Blood Monarch (Growth)! Grade: Mortal Grade - 5 Experience required to increase the Grade: Kill and absorb the blood of 100 E-Grade Monsters/ Individuals! Effects: -All blood rted abilities are increased by 50% in power and 50% in duration. -Cooldown of all blood rted abilities decreases by 25%! -Blood Control: For 10 minutes every 24 hours, allows the user to control his own blood!] [Race: Dhamphir Effects: Allows the user to consume the blood of all species to increase his own attributes! The attributes would be randomly allocated and increase is only possible when the monster has more stats than the user!] [Body: Bloodless! Effects: -The user''s own blood will be consumed at the rate of 1 ml/minute! -Allows the user to take other beings blood for his own use!] I was born a monster. A being that was created as a weapon for others to use. Never in my deepest fears I had believed that the things that would make me a monster, would be my boon in the god-forsaken world, where we are all pitted against each other to survive. Even though I was the weakest among my own n, due to my own self-restriction on consumption of blood that halted my growth, I was still a fair warrior. To protect my brothers in arms, I was ready to sacrifice myself in front of the unknown monsters that attacked us. Though a certain being, [???]appeared out of nowhere, changed my fate as he upgraded the mere [Lower Mortal Gift] I had. It was because of him, that I was able to survive that mad world. And even now¡­ [Skill: Blood Control] He was there, helping me out, by giving me what I needed the most. With a skill that was perfectly suited to my condition and my gift, he once again, made the near impossible things possible for me. And that is why, I must ask¡­ "Why are you doing this?" "Huh? What are you talking about? You are a monster, obviously you should die a pathetic death," that man in white, a guy who hated me for my existence, spoke as he looked at me. His eyes red at me, as if I were his worst nemesis. Though. I never asked the question to him. [Let''s just say¡­ I am in need of strong individuals. Even though it''s a lie, will you believe in it?] He spoke again. And he told me a lie before asking me to believe in it. My eyes closed, narrowed at the message as I easily dodged my ex-lover''s attacks, parried them, before pushing her away again. [Just kidding. To be fair, it''s all a bitplex to exin. Too many things are happening at the top here, and I am just preparing for the future. You can think of yourself as an investment for something that may or may not happen in the future. If you can reach the top and stand among the strongest, I will call out for your help. If you can''t, then that''s not a big deal.] [What I gave you was something that I thought suited you the best. Just like I gave the others in other servers. You can use it toe out as the best, or to live on your own. You don''t have toply with my wishes either. Though if you want to repay me, then the best way is to get stronger. Also, you can call me out if things go south anytime.] -nk! X 7 -nk! X 5 -nk! X 3 I parried her attacks, as I read the long message he sent. From the way the entire text was written, I deduced a couple of things. First was that he could see me. Second was that, what he gave me was pretty easy for him to give out. And thest thing was that he was nning something big. Something that not only involved me but many like me. "All right. I guess, I will give my best," I said as I felt a bit rxed and looked at the man in white with my eyes closed. A smile formed on my face, as if a burden was reduced on my shoulders. "You said that you can help my sister, right?" I asked and the answer came. [Already did. She should being here.] My eyes widened in surprise as I looked at the text before I chuckled out loud and then spoke," is that so? Then I guess I should wrap things here as well. Can''t let my sister see her brother killing someone." I then tightened the grip on my sword, before beginning to take the first step towards the man in white. I might have only a few minutes¡­ let''s enjoy those with the color of revenge. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 130: [The Ancient One!] [Adrian''s POV!] Closing the screen, I smiled before continuing with the creation of the town center. My eyes observed all the things that I needed to create here before I started channeling the energy to create those things. I pondered about a couple of things before I opened up my skill menu. And then navigating down, I reached a particr skill of mine. [Skill: The One Grade: S Effects: -Healing: Allows the user to take in surrounding energy and heal himself or others at rapid speed! -Telepathic Communication: The ability to connect mentally with others by sensing their thoughts or emotions through energetic fields. -Empathy: A heightened sense of emotional awareness, where one can deeply feel or influence the emotions of others by connecting with their energy. -Control of Elements: Allow individuals to manipte the elements¡ªsuch as fire, water, air, and earth¡ªby controlling the energy within these natural forces. -Weather Control: By tapping into the''s energy fields, the user could control weather patterns like storms, wind, and rain. -Energy sts: The ability to project powerful bursts of energy for defensive or offensive purposes. -Force Fields: Using energy to create protective barriers or shields around oneself or others. -Energy Constructs: Forming solid objects, weapons, or structures from pure energy. -Energy Amplification: Using external energy to enhance one''s abilities or increase their potency. -Energy Absorption: Allows the user to absorb all forms of energy to a certain extent, replenishing the user''s own reserves!] I gave it a bit of thought before deciding to spend about 5 Billion on it. I am going to need a huge reservoir of energy in the future in order to create any form of items that I want. And this skill was the only idea I had right now. [Would you like to increase the Grade of the [Skill: The One] for 3.7 Billion GM Points?] I pondered for a bit, before clicking [Yes] on it. I was going to go for something like a [Time Control] regarding the [Inventory] that I had, but for now, I thought it would be better to have a huge amount of energy, increase the grade of my [Gift], and then focus on other things. [Skill: The Ancient One Grade: SS Effects: -Healing: Allows the user to take in surrounding energy and heal himself or others at an instantaneous speed! -Telepathic Communication: The ability to connect mentally with others by sensing their thoughts or emotions through energetic fields. The user can even make others forget certain information, if he focuses enough. The target must be in a weakened state for the user to change the memories of the target. -Empathy: A heightened sense of emotional awareness, where one can deeply feel or influence the emotions of others by connecting with their energy. The user can even sense the energy of monsters, animals, nts and even species that normally does not show emotions. -Control of Elements: Allow individuals to manipte the elements¡ªsuch as fire, water, air, and earth¡ªby controlling the energy within these natural forces. The user canbine elements to create further sub elements such as ice, steam,va, etc. At max, 4 elements can bebined at once. -Weather Control: By tapping into the''s energy fields, the user could control weather patterns like storms, wind, and rain. The user can create natural disasters in a controlled area, though once initiated the user won''t be able to control those disasters by direct means. -Energy sts: The ability to project powerful bursts of energy for defensive or offensive purposes. The sts can now be shaped as the user desires. -Force Fields: Using energy to create protective barriers or shields around oneself or others. The barrier can absorb the enemies ability, allowing the user to analyze it and use it by himself, by recreating the same attack. -Energy Constructs: Forming solid objects, weapons, or structures from pure energy. Also allows the user to change the nature of the constructs into matter of the user''s desire. -Energy Amplification: Using external energy to enhance one''s abilities or increase their potency. The user can channel his enemies'' energy to strengthen himself! -Energy Absorption: Allows the user to absorb all forms of energy to a certain extent, replenishing the user''s own reserves! The user will absorb a certain amount of energy naturally from the atmosphere, increasing the natural energy regeneration of the user by a huge amount!] I kind of expected it to be this absurd. A smile formed on my face as I looked at my current energy reserve to be increased from 32,000 to 320,000. As for energy regeneration, it also increased from 100 per second to 1000 per second. "Well. Things should be much smoother now," I thought as I began shaping everything around me at a much faster rate. Nora, who was observing me from a distance, had her eyes widened. She gulped as she saw me creating everything at an insane speed. The Town center, the buildings on the outside, the trees, everything was processing smoothly. What should have taken a few hours forpletion, only took a few seconds, as I finished everything in one go. Though sadly, this was only the beginning of what I wanted to create. And even though, in a way, this wasplete, this was also just a base, or a foundation, of what I wanted to create. "Monster," Nora mumbled as she reached closer to me. Her eyes were shocked, scared even. She looked at me from top to bottom before asking, "Is there anything that you cannot do?" I only smiled at her before speaking,"if it''s about creating no grade items, I think anyone can do as long as they were given enough time." "No, they won''t," she spoke vigorously shaking her head while I ignored her and continued, "The next task is to change most of the structures into F-Grade and then slowly make them all reach E-Grade so that they can be self functioning. We might even need to create Guards for the safety of the town, remember? They need to be at least A-Grade¡­ and that''s what is going to take most of the time." She gulped as she only looked at me before asking, "You weren''t joking about that¡­ were you?" The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone! Chapter 131: [Not a mere settlement!] Time passed as I changed the minor details of the settlement. Rather than starting with the heavy duty work, I started with the smaller ones first. The most basic was the water that flowed in the fountains and through the drinking pipes. And even the water that came into the bathroom, and the drainage. [Item: Healing Water Grade: F Effects: Increases the healing regeneration of the user by 5% for 2 hours! Restores 10 HP for every liter of water drunk by the user!] Once the water was done, next came the flowers that were present at every corner of the city. Since I wanted to create a central point for the flower, and not enchant them individually, I made sure theye from a single branch that spread all around the city. [Enchanted Spirit Tree Grade: D Effects: Produces Flowers that give out a rxing atmosphere! If the user bathes in the aroma for more than 2 hours, all abnormal mental states are removed! If the user bathes for more than 24 hours, all the strong curse effects are reduced by a huge margin! Additional Effects: Removed Confusion, panic and anxiety!] With this done, what was next was the flooring of the city. The walk should beforting and not heavy, the steps should be easy with little friction. Since I was going to introduce even cars and bikester on, the chances of idents happening should be reduced. It''s still not perfect, but it should be able to hold out the unwanted injuries that might result from idents and stuff. Also, I should add automatic friction control in case someone starts speeding on the road. "All right. With this done, let''s move to the next target," I smiled as I then moved towards the walls of the apartments, those trees and all the shops that were within the city. [Item: Stronghold Walls! Grade: D Effect: Can take a huge amount of damage before it breaks! Find adventures on §Þ?? Special Effects: -Self Repair: All the damage done, can be self repaired with each percent taking an hour! -Absorb: Allows the walls to take in damage and store its energy for repair!] ''Okay, that should serve as the minimum for now,'' I smiled as I was able to create D-Grade walls without much difficulty. Even though each brick took 1000 Energy aspared to mere 1 energy before, it was still fairly easy as long as I did one house at a time before taking a short break. As usual, within the breaks, I saw how the people I contracted with, were faring in their own tutorials. It wasn''t boring at all, some of them really gave their all toplete some of the quests and stuff. At times, I gave them minor rewards such as a sword and other items, while for the most part I let them do their own things. Sometimes, I chatted with them, asking about their personal lives and stuff, which they enthusiastically told me about. And once all my energy returned to max, I once again moved back to work on the walls of the apartments, shops and other things that I could enchant. As for the walls of the Town center, I enchanted them with an additional grade. Took more time, but it was necessary. "With this done, and that done¡­ hmmm¡­ okay. Let''s move to the next," I mumbled as I kept going on and on without any breaks, while Nora watched me with deep interest. Wherever I went, she followed, looking at how I was dealing with things. Sometimes she was amazed at how I created the door to open automatically or have specific conditions for them to block if the yers were to try anything funny. Well, above all, she was amazed at the inns that I created for the yers to stay. The way those ins were self functioning as long as you pay the right amount of points, and the way no one can force anything to any parts of the city, made her amazed with the entire settlement. "Is this really a settlement? Even the safe zone pales inparison to how it functions," she spoke in amazement as she observed the entire thing with her eyes wide open. While I smiled in satisfaction, as I finally began creating guards of all shapes and sizes. I was done with everything, from the outer gate to the inner drainage system. Nothing was left by me. Even the items in the shops were created by me for the yers to buy, and there were even food creating machines that the yers can use with points. The only two things that were left were the teleportation gates and the guards to protect the city if anyone tries to do anything underhanded. And since I had decided that I was going to create at least 100 A-Grade guards, and 4 S-Grade teleportation gates on each side of the city, I decided to start with the A-Grade guards. Since they were going to be the foundation of the defense of the city, I decided to go an extra step with how they were going to be. Since I already had the [Map] with me, surveince cameras were not needed here. Though I need to make sure that all the guards are connected with each other, and are able to respond quickly in all the required situations. Nora observed me adding various features to the guard, with her eyes widened in surprise as she gulped. I could see the strange fear in her eyes as she kept mumbling, "Forget about being a bit safe¡­ this settlement might even be safer than the safe city itself." And I nodded at her words. Though¡­ this was only the beginning. This was only the start¡­ a mere settlement. Soon as time will pass, I will even create more absurd things as I will develop this settlement into a vige, and then into town, and then to city before finally making it a kingdom. By the time night came, I was finally done with my first guard that took about 2 hours to be prepared. Though sadly, I couldn''t create all of the things it had with my energy alone, I had to go one step ahead and even use GM Points here and there. Otherwise it might have taken a few days to create even a single one of these guards. "Well¡­ at least it''s worth it," I smiled as I looked at the guard knight standing on its own two feet. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!