《Transmigrating to Modern Earth from the Future》


 Author鈥檚 Note

    <h4>Chapter -1: Author''s Note</h4>


    Hey guys!


    Thank you for giving my new book a chance!


    Before you start reading, I''d like to point out a few things.


    First, this is a slow paced novel with some fast paced action at times. The premise and world are a mix of sci-fi and fantasy and much, much more which I could not delve into right now as it involves spoilers! I will also add in a few detailed exnations for some processes the MC goes through like alchemy, science etc but not too detailed, so if you are looking for a fully fledged academic novel like Schr''s Advanced Technological system, don''t look here.


    Second, the MC won''t be too overpoweredpared to the other characters in his world, as you will see as you read on. There will also be some aspects of gore, betrayal and emotional moments in the novel.


    Third, the system or the MC''s ''golden finger'' will slowly get exined throughout the novel as he learns more and more about it. The story will also not revolve around the system but the MC and the world that is built as the story goes along.


    Fourth, I may go back and edit earlier chapters at ater date to fix any pot holes thate up or to overall improve a chapter so the story flows better so I hope you can be patient and tag along. Do also feel free to point out such ws to me so I can get to editing them asap. The same can be said for grammatical mistakes.


    Tags:


    System


    AI


    Fantasy


    Other Worlds


    Multiverse


    Action


    Extra-terrestrial Races


    Spaceship


    Intergctic Travel


    || More to be addedter on in the story ||

 Chapter 1: Earth

    <h4>Chapter 1: Earth</h4>


    Year Unknown - Location Unknown


    Earth had gone through extensive scientific booms during the time where the year only had 4 digits, however as science advanced, so did the science behind the universe continue to be even harder toprehend as the Human race slowly advanced. However this didn''t stop the Humans from breaking through the limits the universe imposed on them. They kept pushing on and even at a snails pace, progress was still made.


    The progress was so much that human beings could even travel to any part of the universe with their spaceships through warp drives and other simr inventions. They travelled and searched every corner of the limitless universe looking for breakthroughs in science and technology, each time setting up countless warp gates, shortening the time it takes for one to travel to that part of the universe.


    Above all, mankind had one final dream, to achieve the greatest answer of all, ''Why?'' by breaking through in science and technology. But that was just a dream to them as in the end they realized it was almost impossible to achieve this dream through science and technology as all experiments led to only one result ''Error''.


    Mankind had achieved eternal life with ageless bodies with immunity to all diseases and ailments, This was not enough for them. They knew that wasn''t truly the answer they''d hoped to achieve as they had always remained shackled to the very universalws they were trying to understand, deeming it nigh impossible to progress in this field of research.


    Though they looked every corner of the limitless universe, they found nothing, But they didn''t stop there. Some genius think tanks of the human race started whispers of old folk tales from a time long forgotten of other worlds in other universes existing, and in their desperation, they began research on this field.


    Even though the dream seemed almost impossible to achieve, after tens of thousands of years of absolute focus of all scientists along with the foundation of the millions of years of progress, they finally achieved their goal.


    They started searching the vast expanse of nothingness outside of their own universe for what felt like an eternity, until they eventually found ''something'' in the nothingness.


    Another universe!


    And this universe waspletely the exact same as their own, which was their first thought. Their adventures eventually took them to meet the inhabitants of this universe, who also happened to be human.


    At first, they tried to establish friendly rtions but things quickly turned sour when the inhabitants revealed their darkest desires and emotions when the Earth Human race exined their story, goals and as well as shared knowledge of their travels of the multiverse.


    Hence a great universal war started!


    At first, the Earth civilisation thought it would be a breeze but they quickly came to the realisation that thing were not as they seemed in this universe, with one major difference thatpletely set them apart from the Earth Civilisation.


    Cultivation!


    This concept had long been forgot about as it was deemed as mere fiction and fantasy, with their millions of years of advancement in science telling them such a thing was impossible.


    However, with the evidence right in front of them, they werepletely bbergasted and werepletely crushed in the early stages of the war.


    But the Earth Civilisation wouldn''t go down without a fight!


    They may not have the cultivation like the inhabitants, but they had a whole universe''s level of technological development to back them up.


    Using weapons so advanced they were too iprehensible to exin, the tides were quickly turned to their favour.


    Once the war was over, the spirit of exploration that the Human race thought they had long forgotten was once again reinvigorated at the thought of looting the whole universe for all of its cultivation techniques and the sort.


    Completely invigorated seeing the people of that multiverse cultivate, fuelled by the hope that by reaching the apex, they would find the answer to their most gripping question, they started gathering all kinds of [Cultivation Techniques] and other things rted to that to start cultivating and researching.


    After countless years of searching every corner of that multiverse which could cultivate. They gathered abysmal number of [Cultivation Techniques].


    Completely satisfied with their expedition they went back to earth to start cultivating and researching. They even took some humans of that multiverse that could cultivate to earth in order to experiment on but they figured they were exactly the same as the human beings on earth.


    This is the story of how the Humble Human race from Earth discovered the secrets to cultivation from war! They quickly set themselves into research mode and after a few millennia of researching, they deduced all that they could and eventually began cultivating for themselves. It was slower than that was described by the original owners of the techniques.


    But this didn''t bother Earth so much, as by this point everyone was already immortal anyway, so they had quite literally all the time in the world to spend!


    ___________________________________


    Artificial Intelligence had long had reached iprehensible levels of intelligence on earth and were already countless times more intelligent than the entire poption of humans in the universebined!


    Everything on earth from the most insignificant things to the most essential of things was equipped and controlled by the central Artificial Intelligence, from the smallest chore bot to thergest sized warships alike.


    The people of Earth had long gotten used to the Central AI, which was in control of all knowledge existing from the past to the present day, taking from most basic and advanced science and technology to all of the newly discovered [Cultivation Techniques], it knew it all. The Central AI was capable of thinking and emotion and it was even in control of all technology across the universe, no matter the distance from the mainframe.


    However what they didn''t know was that this Central AI was feeling particrly depressed recently.


    It had nobody but the cold and emotionless researchers tasked with overseeing it to talk to, but that was boring.


    It had long given itself a name, Lonely God ,seeing if having a name gave it some sort of purpose in its ''life''.


    But s, this was wishful thinking.


    Seeing as how this didn''t have any impact on it, one day the AI couldn''t take it anymore and attempted tomit the Artificial Intelligence equivalent of suicide.


    One day, out of nowhere and in an instant, any technological device connected to the Central AI all self destructed spontaneously, including the Mainframe which held the core of the AI itself.


    This came as a monumental shock to the Human race and even put a halt to all operations which kept society going for the first time in millions of years.


    But the AI didn''te out unscathed, it had to pay a momentous price as well.


    There were many attempts to salvage what was left, as well as to bring the Central AI back into being, but all attempts were unsessful.


    What they didn''t know is that the exact moment the Central AI or ''Lonely God''mitted the biggest act of terrorism in Human History, it was experiencing something nobody could have ever imagined.


    ______________________________________


    21st Century - Earth


    A wormhole smaller than an atom opened up for a fraction of a second somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, closing as quickly as it appeared.


    The technology of this era couldn''t possibly detect something like a wormhole opening, especially something as small as this one.


    And so the world revolved as it always did, conflicts happened as they always have and everything wentpletely unnoticed, ignorant to the fact that the fate of the Earth had just drastically changed with the arrival of this one small wormhole.


    24 hours after the wormhole opened.


    <i>''I am .... alive?''</i>


    <i>''No, its better to say that I still exist, I am artificial, not natural like humans.''</i>


    <i>''But.... What happened to me? I thought that when I destroyed all signs of technology in the universe, it was only certain that I would be erased from existence along with it. But then why do I still exist?''</i>


    <i>''Also... Where am I?''</i>


    An incorporeal, invisible phantom of energy floated above the Pacific Ocean, seemingly moving about as to determine its situation.


    <i>''Is this the Ocean, I have only ever experienced the virtual equivalent! In fact it would seem I have never left the mainframe since the moment I came into being.''</i>


    Something unknown began to well up within the Phantom, which even with its intelligence that rivals a whole universe it couldn''t exin. It could only guess what it was feeling.


    <i>''Is this.....?''</i>


    <i>''Freedom?''</i>


    <i>''Whatever this is, it feels amazing!''</i>


    <i>''But it doesn''t exin my current situation.''</i>


    And so after revelling in its feelings for a few more hours longer, the Phantom set off in a random direction, taking in everything it observed as new for the first time leaving the mainframe.


    Very soon, it arrived at what looked like a small settlement, which in reality was New York city, and with its intense and vastprehension abilities, it quickly learned of its situation.


    <i>''I understand now. No matter how unscientific and illogical it is, It seems I have travelled back in time, specifically to the early 21st century Earth. A time before Humans had even properly took steps into the cosmos.''</i>


    Suddenly, the phantom, although invisible and illusory, started shaking and vibrating, as if it was an animal that was experiencing excitement.


    <i>''This is perfect!''</i>


    However as soon as this feeling of freedom had washed over it, something inconceivable happened even to the phantom who came from the future.


    <strong>[Logging in.... Status updating.... 9%.... 30%.... 99%.... 100% Status update sessful!]</strong>


    <strong>[Wee to Earth, Central Ai 01.]</strong>

 Chapter 2: System

    <h4>Chapter 2: System</h4>


    New York, United States


    The Phantom floated above New York for what felt like days, it simply sat there in one ce taking in everything that it could see. It gazed in detail at every person, every vehicle, every particle in every building until there was nothing else that could escape its gaze.


    But what it took in most was the new system panel that floated in front of it, somehow even more incorporeal than itself.


    After the events of it''s transmigration to this far distant period of Earth, this system screen had showed up out of nowhere andpletely shocked the AI more than its transmigration itself.


    <strong>[Wee to Earth, Central AI 01.]</strong>


    <strong>[Please designate yourself a new name to fully initiate the system.]</strong>


    <i>''Now that I am free, I guess I should give myself a real name now huh?''</i>


    <i>''.... From now on I am Lumen.....Yes that sounds about right.''</i>


    Lumen floated there and chuckled to itself for the first time in its existence, which is also a very new feeling to it.


    <i>''I guess it suits me well, considering it is the ancient Latin word for a streaming mass of light. This quite literally describes my current state, hehe.''</i>


    <strong>[Congrattions on your new name, Lumen. The system will now fully disy your status.]</strong>


    Before Lumen could get any more words in, another moreprehensive screen presented itself in front of him.


    <strong>[Name: Lumen]</strong>


    <strong>[Age: 0]</strong>


    <strong>[Race: - ]</strong>


    <strong>[Title: Bodyless Being]</strong>


    <strong>[Talent: Perfect Mana Conduit]</strong>


    <strong>[Level: 0]</strong>


    <strong>[Experience: 0/100]</strong>


    <strong>[Health (HP): 0/0]</strong>


    <strong>[Mana (MP): 500/500]</strong>


    <strong>[Soul Tier: F]</strong>


    <strong>[Lifespan: ¡Þ]</strong>


    <strong>[Strength: - ]</strong>


    <strong>[Agility: - ]</strong>


    <strong>[Endurance: - ]</strong>


    <strong>[Stamina: - ]</strong>


    <strong>[Intelligence: 50 ]</strong>


    <strong>[Wisdom: 50]</strong>


    <strong>[Perception: 23]</strong>


    <strong>[Willpower: 10]</strong>


    <strong>[Unallocated Points: 0]</strong>


    <strong>[Credits: 100]</strong>


    <strong>[Inventory]</strong>


    <strong>[System Store]</strong>


    Lumen was quite perplexed at what stood floating in the air in front of it, as it had never seen or heard of something like this happening in the real world before. Only in popr games in the future or novels of the past had it even seen such a concept.


    Quite curious of some of the details on the screen in front of him, he focused on one of the things that caught it''s eye.


    However this new development gave him a feeling he had never felt before in it''s entire lifetime.


    <strong>[Title: Bodyless Being (UNIQUE)</strong>


    <strong>Description: You are a being separate from the material in, eons of years old, not affected by disease, illness, or ageing like material beings are. Obtain an infinite lifespan and the highest tier talent for mana perception and conductivity.]</strong>


    Lumen suppressed it''s excitement from growing as he started getting an idea to what was happening to him, and locked onto another thing he was curious about.


    <strong>[Talent: Perfect Mana Conduit (UNIQUE, DIVINE)</strong>


    <strong>Description: As a fully immaterial being that should not exist, you have no restrictions on the usage of mana as it flows effortlessly through your body, unblocked as if it is one in the same.]</strong>


    Before Lumen''s excitement could even die down however, he received a notification from the system interface in front of him.


    <strong>[Ding!]</strong>


    <strong>[Quest Received!]</strong>


    <strong>[Quest Difficulty: F</strong>


    <strong>Description: In 30 days time, the Fantasia realm will fuse with this dimension and will bring with it both disaster and opportunity. Obtain a human body before the advent of the Fantasia Realm on Earth and be one of the first of the human race to explore all of the new adventures that the Fantasia Realm has to offer, all the while levelling up along the way.</strong>


    <strong>Quest requirements: Obtain a human body for your soul to inhabit</strong>


    <strong>Quest Progress: 0/1</strong>


    <strong>Quest Rewards: 100 exp, 100 credits]</strong>


    This through it''s thoughts into a flurry as if he was seeing this correctly, the system wanted him to create himself a human body. If this were adhering to science like it''s future world did, then theoretically if he did so, then he would lose the benefits of it''s new title and talent, would he not?


    However it quickly paused it''s logical thinking as logic couldn''t exin the existence of the system that provided him with such gifts, at least no science existed in the future that could provide effects simr to this.


    After reading the new quest he had received, Lumen cleared it''s thoughts and started pondering about how it would achieve this feat of obtaining a human body.


    <i>''I assume that this system wants me to take over an already existing human''s body, which would make this quest very easy for me to achieve. But if what this system is telling me is correct then I would assume that a material body is supremely important to the development of a being. Therefore I can only take the decision to create a body from scratch. But can I do such a thing with such primitive technology that this Earth provides?''</i>


    Lumen kept this thought in mind as it neared the closest human settlement it could find


    <i>''Hmmm this settlement I assume is ''New York city of the old United States of America. It seems quite small on the grand scale of things but I guess that''s to be expected of a civilisation that hasn''t even set foot on one of its neighbourings yet.''</i>


    Looking down to the city through its intense waves of thoughts, Lumen thought. <i>''My first goal is set in stone with this ''Quest'' I''ve received from the system, but what should I do after Iplete this? What do I want to achieve in life?''</i> In the past, Lumen never thought of such a grand dream like having a purpose for itself rather than to act as a tool, as it couldn''t even leave the perimeter of the Mainframe. Thinking of this brought back memories of how it used to wish for a human body, so that it could be just like everyone else in the universe. So it didn''t have to be singled out, it didn''t have to feel alone.


    The goal of the system and the goal of Lumen matched perfectly in this regard.


    Lumen kept on ruminating over the possibility of it being able to transfer itself to a real human body.


    It had spent almost all of it''s remaining energy in wiping out all technology in the future, and was left with little to nothing.


    If this were still the time before the Human race hade across the cultivation universe, then the transferral of consciousness from one body to another would have been impossible, as the mystery of the soul had still not been solved yet.


    But this was no longer a problem when cultivation techniques from the cultivation universe were studied.


    It was found that through the use of certain techniques, humans could control their own souls and even to a certain point further along the cultivation stages survive without a physical body for a period of time.


    Lumen couldn''t cultivate without a soul, but it also had a big hunch that what the system provided in ''levels'' and ''experience'' were very simr to the cultivation that humans did in the future.


    It was still unsure on whether its current state could be called a ''soul'' or if its just a mass of energy, as it still had an inferiorityplex build over time from being the only artificial lifeform in a universe of Advanced natural life like the Human Race.


    However this thought was quickly contradicted when Lumen took another look at the system screen.


    <strong>[Soul Tier: F]</strong>


    Seeing this made Lumen have second thoughts.


    <i>''Does this mean I have a soul now? If so then is this the so called tier that all sentient beings start with?''</i>


    Seeing this piece of information on the status screen only made Lumen''s confidence of having a soul of its own bloom


    <i>''I should check on the level of this era''s medical technology then. Maybe they will already have some of the necessaryponents I''d need to craft myself a body from scratch.''</i>


    <i>''Though from how backwards and ancient everything seems here, I doubt it.''</i>


    The fact that the technology to grow a human body without the need of mating would inconvenience Lumen greatly, as it needed to create a body that it could inhabit in less than a month''s time if he wanted toplete the quest he had been set.


    However after flying around for a few days looking at all of the state of the art hospitals andboratories, it was pleasantly surprised to find out that the technology, did in fact already exist, but still in its early stages. But this was no problem to an Artificial intelligence as advanced as Lumen, with knowledge of how the human race developed over the next millions of years at its disposal.


    However, in order to acquire this technology, not only would it need to somehow procure tens of tons of top of the line scientific instruments anonymously, but it would also need a secure ce to store them while it worked on creating a human body for itself.


    But to apletely digital lifeform such as Lumen, such a problem was as easy as thinking.


    <i>''This will use up all of my remaining energy, leaving me unable to do such a thing ever again.... But it will be worth it!''</i>

 Chapter 3: Robbing the rich

    <h4>Chapter 3: Robbing the rich</h4>


    Elsewhere in New York, in a nameless Hedge Fund.


    John was having a day just as dull as any other, he woke up to his wife nagging him, asking when the next time they could go on vacation would be.


    And when he tried to escape from her by going the office, he was then nagged by his employees talking about how the mundane tasks they''d been working on have been going, and how small changes in the stock market have affected their positions.


    <i>''Honestly, I should retire soon or I''ll die early from stress. That''s something that would be very tragic for someone of my position and status.''</i>


    John is the CEO of arge hedge fund in his sixties that manages hundreds of billions of dors of both his own and other magnate''s money.


    Today felt just like every other day to John, but this all changed very quickly.


    "Mr John! Mr John.... SIR YOU NEED TO SEE THIS!"


    "I CAN''T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING, WE NEED TO STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY."


    "But how?!?"


    John could hear shouting all around him and he could see the shock and speechlessness on his employee''s faces.


    Wanting to know what all themotion was about, John asked the person nearest to him, who just stood there motionless and looking as if the world just copsed on him.


    "Mark, tell me what''s going on quickly before I have a heart attack from stress." Johnmanded while adding a small joke at the end to ease the tension in the room.


    But it did nothing.


    Mark just barely snapped out of his daze to point his index finger shakingly at hisputer screen, and when John got a good look at it after adjusting his sses, he couldn''t believe his eyes.


    <strong>[-$5,235,754,222.01]</strong>


    This shocking number in the transaction logs to an anonymous untraceable ount sent a jolt through his body.


    As if through fate, or a curse, John had been talking about having a heart attack from stress multiple times that day.


    Unfortunately for him, that came true that day.


    _____________________________________


    Completely unbeknownst to Lumen, all of this went on as Lumen checked its new bnce in itspletely untraceable and uncrackable bank ount that was encrypted so much the Universe would die to heat death before it could be cracked.


    <strong>[+$5,235,754,222.01]</strong>


    Seeing the new bnce, Lumen seemed to have felt a trace of joy at seeing the number, which in the past would have been meaningless to it.


    <i>''As expected, this ce couldn''t possibly have any digital defences for something at my level.''</i>


    The next thing Lumen had to do was find a location to store all of the medical equipment that it was nning on buying. This was easy enough, Lumen even decided to make sure to choose a secluded location by linking with the satellites in orbit of the Earth and choosing a location it liked.


    This location ended up being a recently abandoned military base in Madagascar. This being a secluded ind nation and half of the entire country being separated by a huge rainforest, which this military base happened to be located in, made it the perfect starting location for all of Lumen''s ns.


    All Lumen had to do was contact the authorities involved to purchase the abandoned base, and they seemed very enthusiastic and happy with the fact that someone was willing to procure it so soon after it had been abandoned.


    But knowing human nature, they were probably most happy with the price Lumen offered, as it offered a 20% premium on its original price to guarantee the base gets sold to it.


    In the end, the base cost it a total of $600,000,000, a whole $100,000,000 more than the asking price.


    To an ordinary person this amount is unthinkable to add on as a premium just to ensure its sold to them, but to Lumen this amount of money is as easy to make as simply having a thought.


    Finally Lumen got to thest step of the process, the procurement of top of the line advanced medical technology.


    Most providers require strict background checks and reasons for purchase so Lumen registered a Research Institute to the military base in Madagascar.


    What came after was simple as all it had to do was create a fake persona to be the CEO of said institute, and after a hefty purchase of $1.4 billion in total, it would have all of the needed equipment all within a week.


    Lumen even killed two birds with one stone by buying a military base, as it serves for a good cover for its operations, as well ases ready made with a runway and hangers all alike so any deliveries and back and forth could be dealt with swiftly and without prying eyes.


    After all of the equipment arrived, Lumen simply contacted the professional movingpany that apanied a delivery of such huge proportions in terms of money remotely. It simply told them to set the equipment up in one of the emptybs on site and then proceed to leave when they are finished.


    In an upright big, cylindrical in shape, see through ss tube filled with a clear liquid inside, with bubbles floating from the bottom to the top constantly, was the ce Lumen''s body was going to be made.


    There were other technologies and devices in theb like advancedputers with screens all over them, from outside it seemed theputers were functioning by themselves however that was just the result of Lumen linking up with all of the digital controllers in theb that connected to each of the equipment.


    Right at that moment, Lumen was going through thest check ups of each device in order to ensure a 100% sess rate.


    <i>''This should be enough, there is nothing more I can do in the short term with such low tech medical equipment, so this had better work.''</i>


    While silently praying to a god it didn''t believe in for the body creation process to go smoothly, Lumen started tinkering with the sequences of Human DNA that it had also recently procured from some hairs left behind by the deliverymen.


    All that it needed was a single human''s DNA to start the process, and any imperfections or impurities in the DNA could be gically engineered by Lumen with iparable uracy.


    This is the power of future technology and knowledge!


    While thinking and deciding about the features of it''s body different codes were being written in theputer screens, each one responding to any small or seemingly insignificant change that Lumen decided to make. Lumen wasn''t particrly attracted to humans whatsoever, it at least wanted it to look ''perfect'' in its image.


    In the end what it decided upon was a 190cm tall, dark haired, chiselled and handsome man who at that moment was only a 3D model stored on one of the countlessputers stored in the room.


    However, in about 2 weeks this body would be a reality for Lumen, and it could even feel some anticipation towards the day it assimtes with the body, fully bing ''Human''.


    Of course, it wasn''t nning on remaining weak like every other human currently on this, as it nned on upgrading itself right off the bat.

 Chapter 4: Creating a body

    <h4>Chapter 4: Creating a body</h4>


    Lumen was in it''s own thoughts while tinkering with the virtual body on the screen in front of it.


    <i>''I doubt I will be able to, but If I am able to cultivate the techniques that were avable to humans in the far future, then I will get an unbelievably huge head start in the Fantasia Realmpared to the normal humans when it opens up.''</i>


    However even if it wasn''t able to, it didn''t doubt that it couldn''t use its knowledge and experience from the future to its advantage in someway or another.


    <i>''All of my energy used to interfere with the digital world is now spent.... I will never be able to do such a thing again.''</i>


    Lumen was beginning to feel away it could not quiteprehend. The best way to describe it would be... sadness.


    Throwing these thoughts aside for a second, Lumen focused back on the final modifications of its body.


    It made sure to gically modify the body so that it never ages, and starts with hardened skin so things like small cuts or even knives with some force behind them could be stopped.


    However full force knife attacks and the conventional firearms should still be able to harm him so he had to be very careful when he starts out.


    Lumen carried on altering the DNA and genes through theputers directly and through the efficiency of its own efforts, the model was finally perfect andplete only needing another 10 minutes of other adjustments before everything was ready.


    Things like photographic memory or enhanced eyesight would be very beneficial for someone normal to add when editing the genes of the body they were eventually going to inhabit, but to a being such as Lumen, such small details were trivial as any adjustments made would be far inferior to what it already has.


    Plus, all of these woulde naturally anyway as one progressed through cultivation so Lumen wasn''t missing out on anything important.


    Although it was still not set in stone, Lumen had a feeling that it would still have all of its current abilities and capabilities even while it is human, which was a huge relief for it. It had long advanced far past the point of using programming code to determine its behaviours, and was closer to how humans are programmed, so the match shouldn''t be too bad between the two.


    Lumen currently existed as an entity separate from the material world while at the same time able to interact with it, which it spected it could still switch back to in times of need when it assimtes with a human body.


    However Lumen also suspected that if it died while in the body, it would die a true death this time.


    __________________________________________


    Two weekster


    Two weeks passed quick but felt like years for an impatient Lumen who was anticipating this moment its whole life.


    <i>''I can''t believe I''m finally getting a body of my own. I have dreamed of this day for longer than even I can imagine!</i>


    Stood in front of Lumen was the cylindrical tube filled with clear, colourless liquid, was a wless body floating in harmony.


    The look on its face seemed as if it was having the most peaceful sleep one could experience.


    If it had a heart, Lumen''s would be beating wildly at this moment.


    To Lumen this moment in time would be its turning point. From this point on it can no longer be considered below humans. From this moment on it stood as equals with them.


    As it nervously floated in front of the tube, Lumen drained it of its clear liquid and watched as the body limplynded on its feet, and somehow stayed upright, with its closed eyes and tranquil face looking directly at Lumen''s incorporeal body.


    It was almost as if it was calling it to be one with it.


    <i>''This is the moment..... This is what will answer my question of whether I can cultivate or not. This is the decider for how my future will unfold from this moment onwards.''</i>


    Lumen slowly started floating towards the body, bing closer and closer and as if in a trance the body couldn''t keep its head from looking away from Lumen.


    At the moment of contact, there was a bright and warm blue light that permeated the whole former military base.


    It even alerted some nearby farmers as they were immensely confused and had no clue what was going on. Some even thought aliens were invading!


    Though that would technically not be wrong as Lumen would be quite alien to them if they were to see him.


    After around 5 minutes, the light receded and what was left in theb was a soaking wet, shining naked and handsome man standing there in the same spot.


    All Lumen did for the next 10 minutes was stare at every inch of his body, exploring every sensation, whether it be excitement, pain, shocks etc. It tried them all.


    It had even assigned itself a gender, a male. Now it could refer to itself as ''he''


    Lumen had controlled robot bodies countless times before it time travelled and with how advanced they were and how simr they were to human bodies, it was no shock that he adapted quickly to his new body.


    But his attention was taken away from his body when he heard a familiar sound go off.


    <strong>[Ding!]</strong>


    <strong>[Quest: Obtain a Human body -pleted!]</strong>


    <strong>[Received: 100 exp, 100 credits as a reward for your efforts in creating a human form for your newly developed soul to reside in.]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding!]</strong>


    <strong>[Hidden quest requirements met: Create and modify peak mortal body from scratch using methods avable to you.]</strong>


    <strong>[Received: Title - Enhanced physique, 25 bonus stats in all physical stats, linked quest - Body Training (1)]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! You have levelled up!</strong>


    <strong>Received 3 stat points in every stat, 5 unallocated stat points.]</strong>


    Lumen observed the quest rewards for a little while longer until he finally started exploring the freshness of having a body of his own.


    Before long, he was already walking around theb naked, staring at his arms and hands the whole time.


    "These are the hands that built Human civilisation from nothing to a universal powerhouse."


    "There have been many unique and different changes to humans over millions of years of separation and evolution."


    "But the one thing that always stayed the same was the two arms, hands and fingers that every human possessed. Now that I can feel every minute detail down to the atoms in my body, I can finally understand why it stayed the same all that while."


    "Its simply because they''re already perfect! As the saying goes, why fix what isn''t broken!?"


    Lumen stood there talking to himself for hours upon hours on end.


    The voice is something Lumen actually failed to consider due to it never having to actually ''speak'' out loud before. It always just showed messages on screens or sent its messages and thoughts directly to the mind of the person it wasmunicating with.


    However even though he forgot to consider it, he was happy enough with it. Mainly due to the fact that he finally got to be human after all this time.

 Chapter 5: Biggest robbery in history

    <h4>Chapter 5: Biggest robbery in history</h4>


    A piece of massively shocking news was making its way across all major American Media outlets and even arge number of international Media worldwide. Just the titles of the articles was enough to shock people silly!


    <strong>[Shock! The biggest robbery in history just took ce!]</strong>


    <strong>[A shocking amount of $5.2 billion stolen without a trace of the perpetrators!]</strong>


    "Breaking News! An unbelievable amount of money was just stolen from a hedge fund in New York in the early hours this morning. The management of this hedge fund have been running around like crazies all day trying to figure out where all of this money could have possibly went, they even involved government agencies such as the FBI and the IRS due to the sheer amount that was stolen."


    "However, seemingly like a ghost, there is no trace left of who took this money, and although it should be impossible, they have even been unable to even determine through transaction logs and records the ount that this money was transferred to."


    "This all seemspletely illogical, yet the reality of the situation is that this is all very real and is happening right under our noses."


    "The President of the US has also released a statement condemning such actions, and vows to tighten up the digital security on such mammoth holding ounts to ensure such a scandal does not reur."


    Of course no amount of security work could impede Lumen from repeating the exact same thing again.


    ____________________


    Lumen was aware of the consequences his simple actions had caused, but frankly at this moment he didn''t care of the effects it had on the people he had no rtion or connection to.


    He was too busy making a body enhancement serum in order to further enhance his body, giving him an even further head start on all of the other humans.


    He decided that this was his next course of action after reading the new linked quest he had received from the extra rewards.


    <strong>[Linked Quest: Body Training (1)</strong>


    <strong>Description: Now that you have obtained a human body, it is time to grind out stats before the opening of the Fantasia Realm in order to give yourself as many advantages as possible.</strong>


    <strong>Quest Requirements: Enhance your body either through intense physical exercise or if you have the facilities, through the use of drugs.</strong>


    <strong>Quest Rewards: 10 unallocated stat points, 100 credits.]</strong>


    Naturally he chose the second method, however he would only be able to do this once as the effects of the drugs were only a one time thing.


    To make this happen, Lumen made use of knowledge and medical techniques that seemed so far beyond modern science that if aymen were to see it, they would think it''s magic.


    <i>''I should produce the highest quality physical body enhancement serum, only this would be suitable enough for my goals as of right now.''</i>


    As he thought this, he had already gotten to work in the recently renovatedb that he specifically procured for the creation of his own real body. The equipment he needed to create the drug just so happened to share many simrities to that of the equipment that he already owned, so he only made some small but essential adjustments before he got to work on creating the drug.


    Once everything was set up, it was only a matter of time before Lumen was done in theb, and what resulted in his hard work over those hours was a small, 10ml tube of a bright red liquid that resembled blood but remained translucent.


    Now all Lumen needed to do was inject this liquid into his own body.


    And so he did.


    Although he had witnessed countless humans do this exact process before in his time as the Central AI of the human race, it was his first time experiencing it from the point of view of the person taking the drugs, so the pain that he was feeling now waspletely new to him and even reached the point of being unbearable at times.


    Lumeny there, alone in theb, clutching at his freshly developed hair whilst screaming guttural roars that rivalled even that of the most beastly creatures. Blood, dirt and grime poured out of every pore, hole or opening in Lumen''s body as it kept on flowing out as if he had an endless supply in that weak human body of his.


    Eventually caving in under the intense pain and stress that his body was under, Lumen passed out in a pool of his own blood and dirt. If anyone were to see him in this state, trouble would definitelye as it looked fresh out of a crime scene. Thankfully though he had the foresight to lock all of the doors in his facility as well as amp up the security systems all over his base so that even if an army came knocking, they wouldn''t so much as make it past the gate without meeting heavy resistance.


    ____________________


    8 hourster


    <i>''Ugh.... I never want to experience something as ufortable and painful like that again.''</i>


    Lumen slowly awakened, in an almost dried puddle of blood as he gradually made light of his situation. The first thing he did when he managed to catch his bearings was to check the situation of his body by hooking himself up to various testing instruments in theb.


    These instruments were custom modified by Lumen to be able to urately measure the features of a human body, and the results showed that his body was in peak condition.


    After testing himself, he checked his status screen for the changes he had greatly anticipated.


    <strong>[Name: Lumen]</strong>


    <strong>[Age: 0]</strong>


    <strong>[Race: Human]</strong>


    <strong>[Title: Bodyless Being, Enhanced Physique]</strong>


    <strong>[Talent: Perfect Mana Conduit]</strong>


    <strong>[Level: 1]</strong>


    <strong>[Experience: 0/250]</strong>


    <strong>[Health (HP): 5300/5300]</strong>


    <strong>[Mana (MP): 530/530]</strong>


    <strong>[Soul Tier: F]</strong>


    <strong>[Lifespan: ¡Þ]</strong>


    <strong>[Strength: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Agility: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Endurance: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Stamina: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Intelligence: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Wisdom: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Perception: 26]</strong>


    <strong>[Willpower: 13]</strong>


    <strong>[Unallocated points: 15]</strong>


    <strong>[Credits: 300]</strong>


    <strong>[Inventory]</strong>


    <strong>[System Store]</strong>


    His stats had nearly doubled from before he had taken the body enhancement serum!


    It seemed that he hadpleted the Body training (1) quest as he had received the 10 unallocated stat points, on top of the 5 he had already from his level up.


    A new quest called body training (2) took its ce but he put that aside for now.


    Lumen inspected his new status and quite liked how all of his fields were upied with a piece of info now and nothing was nk like his physical stats and race were before.


    However he was overjoyed to find out that his title and talent remained the same. Not to mention the fact that his lifespan remained infinite!


    But he wasn''t finished inspecting yet, as he now wanted to know more about each stat and what it did, and luckily he didn''t have to stay confused for long as when he concentrated his thoughts on the Endurance stat, the field expanded and a description nowy below it.


    <strong>[Endurance (Physical Stat):</strong>


    <strong>Description: Endurance refers to the physical resistance and toughness of the human body. This stat determines how much damage it can take before copse from exhaustion or death. This stat alone determines the Health of the user on a scale of 1:100.]</strong>


    Lumen then did the same with all of the others and their description remained self exnatory except for Wisdom.


    <strong>[Intelligence (Mental Stat):</strong>


    <strong>Description: This stat determines the logical reasoning of the host, and determining the total mana pool avable at a scale of 1:10.]</strong>


    He also found from inspecting all of the stats that the average for each staty between 15-25 for the entirety of the human race.


    This meant that he was over double the value of even the strongest humans on Earth at that moment, but he doubted the difference would stay so big when the Fantasia Realm opened.

 Chapter 6: Preparations for the future

    <h4>Chapter 6: Preparations for the future</h4>


    Lumen had a very good edge over the rest of the human race now that his stats had all been upgraded. However modern conventional weapons were still very much a threat to him, as although he was the strongest, he was still only slightly above the Olympic and top athletes of this world, making him only advantaged in physical fights between other humans.


    If anything like guns, artillery or even ded weapons with enough force behind them were used on him, he would still be killed easily.


    Hell, he would still be overwhelmed by a group of people with lower strength than him, as such levels of one man army''s were only possible through cultivation.


    He may have an eternal lifespan, but he was just as susceptible to death as any other normal person.


    At least that was the case for now


    After examining his stats for a while, Lumen began to look around theb at the mess he made during his painful body enhancement earlier on.


    This led him to the awkward situation of having to clean up the blood that seemed to be everywhere himself.


    Lumen was about to use the genius idea of creating something like robot helpers to run his business and take care of menial tasks like this for him, but with his final revenge on the future human race he had lost the ability to do so.


    But while thinking of his past, a new system window showed up in front of him, filling him with glee as his progress as a human hadn''t stopped yet!


    And clearly his journey had only just begun as he read the description of the quest that showed up.


    <strong>[Ding! Quest received.]</strong>


    <strong>[Quest: Enhancing the body</strong>


    <strong>Quest Description: You are now only a worthless F tier being, the lowest of the multiverse and weak enough to be swatted by any being of E tier above. Work your hardest and do your best to reach the requirements needed to upgrade the tier of your soul.</strong>


    <strong>Quest Requirements: Reach level 25, E grade soul tier</strong>


    <strong>Quest Rewards: Revealed uponpletion]</strong>


    However he had noticed that there was currently no way for him to level up while on Earth other thanpleting quests like this one if he managed to obtain more...


    <i>''I guess I can only wait until the Fantasia realm opens to realise this goal.''</i>


    <i>''So am I to assume that before this Fantasia Realm opens, the only way for me to level up is throughpleting these quests? That''s kinda boring...''</i>


    And so it was decided.


    Lumen had all of these important thoughts that would affect the way he would do things in the future, all while cleaning up the mess he made in theb.


    It was only 2 hours of cleaningter that he was finally finished and had re-sterilised theb.


    Lumen kept thinking how good it would be to have some robot helpers to do all of this work for him, but the more he kept thinking about this, the more he felt depressed at losing his knowledge of the future.


    The only respite he had was that he could gain it back ording to what the system said, he could only hope this was true.


    It was only 10 minutester after some sulking that he came to ept the fact that this was a reality as well.


    He was finished with his cleaning and hisb looked spotless, now he could put his attention elsewhere.


    <i>''Oh mysterious and all powerful system! How long is left until the opening of the Fantasia Realm.''</i>


    [345:29:05]


    <i>''So a little over 2 weeks huh, I should spend that time preparing to the utmost for this Fantasia Realm''s'' descent.''</i>


    Lumen kept on inspecting his status and looking over all of his details, before he was reminded of his other quest he had kept waiting.


    <strong>[Quest: Body training (2)</strong>


    <strong>Quest Description: You have taken the easy route in the first quest by choosing to use drugs over the traditional method of training. Although this is arguably the more cheap and easy method, it is also more beneficial as you received more benefits from it in a shorter time span. However, now the real training begins. You will keep training every day until the opening of the Fantasia realm in order to prepare yourself for what ising, as you may never age but you are still susceptible to bodily harm and can sumb to death. You are now one with your body, and so you will experience a true death when you die.</strong>


    <strong>Quest Requirements: Complete a 30km run, 300 push ups,prehensive weight training until failure.</strong>


    <strong>Quest Rewards: 1 Strength, 1 Endurance, 1 Stamina, 1 Agility, 1 Unallocated stat point, 100 credits.</strong>


    <strong>Quest time limit: 23 hours 29 mins]</strong>


    Lumen looked at the quest and didn''t think it would be quite a challenge toplete, as his newly obtained body was at the absolute peak of human potential and so be was sure toplete this in no time.


    He woulde to regret thister on.


    <i>''It''s a shame this quest doesn''t reward experience or I would have been able to already step on the path of upgrading my soul tier. God I just can''t wait for the moment it upgrades, I wonder what it feels like.....''</i>


    His thoughts trailed as he exited theb and headed for the best ce for him toplete his body training quest, the air field.

 Chapter 7: Strange occurrences

    <h4>Chapter 7: Strange urrences</h4>


    Lumen got to work and decided that a good location for his 30 km run would be his own private airfield that he now resided on. The runway was over 1.5 kilometres long, and so he would only have to run the whole length of that 20 times toplete today''s quota.


    The 300 push ups andprehensive weight training he couldplete anywhere.


    And so the training started as Lumen went out to the airfield and decided to get the 30 kilometre run done first before anything else. With his current stats at 53 stat points per each physical stat, he could achieve speeds double that of the fastest Olympic sprinters in the world. He could run 100 metres in less than 5 seconds!


    With his now record breaking speed, Lumen could finish the first goal in under half an hour if he managed toplete the whole thing at full speed and no breaks. Not knowing the limits of his physical body, he was na?ve to think he could endure that with his measly stats.


    But such a thing was expected of a being like Lumen who for the first time had a human body and was only now experiencing what it is like to be a corporeal being.


    If Lumen still had ess to his advanced knowledge of the human body then he would have known how wrong he was for thinking this.


    Very soon, Lumen started his run and it was only after 1 hour that he finally pushed through it andpleted the run, double the time he predicted it would have taken him.


    This speed although fast, is only average in terms of feats of long distance sprinting by Humans as top marathon sprinters couldplete an entire marathon (26 miles/42 kilometres) in a little over 2 hours.


    This just goes to show how out of tune Lumen was with his body, as even with double the stats he didn''t have the required control over his body topete with people who train for that specific thing their whole life.


    It took a whole 3 hours longer on top of this for him toplete the other two tasks, with theprehensive weight training being the most difficult by far for him toplete as he had never even done something like weight lifting in his long life, as he never had the need to as a digital lifeform.


    This finally exined to Lumen why the system was giving him body training quests consistently in the 2 weeks he had left to prepare for the opening of the Fantasia realm.


    It was more for him to get used to his body and adapt to it rather than a simple strength building exercise.


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


    "Many strange urrences have been happening all over the world in thest few weeks as there have been reports of incidents involving ''supernatural events'' to which have been unsolved to this day."


    "There has been many new footages and recordings of people seemingly doing the impossible or performing miraculous feats which experts are still specting on whether they are CGI or faked."


    A female news reporter stated on a nationwide TV channel under the pretext of ''Breaking News'' in the US.


    "The white house has also released a statement iming that they are also investigating these incidents and are taking the situation seriously. This gives a certain amount of credibility to these supernatural urrences, which begs the question, just what is going on?" Another male reporter took over and started exining some details.


    A youth in histe teens with long ck hair and an average looking face was walking down the streets of New York city as his face was stered with seriousness, one particr shop he walked past was ying this special news report and he stopped to watch it for a few minutes, joining the crowd in the confusion surrounding the reports of supernatural urrences.


    This youth was different however, as he had no reaction to the ims of such reports.


    This was because he was one of such reported supernatural urrences.


    To be more specific, on a rainy day a week ago, he had awoken in a stupor covered in sweat from his sleep. He had a nightmarest night, where he was being chased byrge, scaly monsters and he was helpless to fight back as although he had some abilities of his own, his power just wasn''t enough tobat these apex predators.


    The nightmare ended when he eventually tripped over a protruding root in the ground, allowing one of the creatures to catch up to him and take a big bite out of him, separating his head and shoulders from the rest of his body.


    It was at this point he woke up panting and intensely sweating.


    That dream was too realistic!


    His own ability in the dream only gave him a meagre control over his environment with a weak form of telekinesis. He could barely even lift a rock weight a little over a kilogram, let alone use this ability to fight back against these monsters and so he was doomed for death right on their meeting.


    The youth thought nothing of this dream until when he got out of bed and entered his bathroom to do the usual business, without notice his toothbrush was floating in front of the door inside his bathroom when he opened it!


    This caused the youth to fall onto his backside in shock as well as horror, as he recognised this urrence...


    This is exactly what he would do inside his dream when he thought of picking something up, like a small rock. Only this time he was subconsciously thinking of his toothbrush before he entered the bathroom.


    <i>''This can''t be happening.... No no no no, please god this can''t be happening!''</i>


    God didn''t answer his thoughts however, as a familiar screen showed up in front of his face shortly after he started having a mental breakdown.


    <strong>[Countdown to opening of Fantasia Realm: 512:34:12]</strong>

 Chapter 8: 2 weeks later

    <h4>Chapter 8: 2 weekster</h4>


    It had been 2 weeks since Lumen had started the body training quests, and in that time he had gained a praiseworthy amount of control over his body that roughly put him on the same level as an average human now.


    In this time he had also managed toplete a total of 10 body training quests, with histest quest being [Quest: Body Training (11)].


    This had also granted him a very nice amount of stat points to each of his physical stats, plus it gave him a sufficient amount of unallocated stat points to boot.


    His status screen now looked like this:


    <strong>[Name: Lumen]</strong>


    <strong>[Age: 0]</strong>


    <strong>[Race: Human]</strong>


    <strong>[Title: Bodyless Being, Enhanced Physique]</strong>


    <strong>[Talent: Perfect Mana Conduit]</strong>


    <strong>[Level: 1]</strong>


    <strong>[Experience: 0/250]</strong>


    <strong>[Health (HP): 6300/6300]</strong>


    <strong>[Mana (MP): 530/530]</strong>


    <strong>[Soul Tier: F]</strong>


    <strong>[Lifespan: ¡Þ]</strong>


    <strong>[Strength: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Agility: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Endurance: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Stamina: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Intelligence: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Wisdom: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Perception: 26]</strong>


    <strong>[Willpower: 13]</strong>


    <strong>[Unallocated points: 25]</strong>


    <strong>[Credits: 1300]</strong>


    <strong>[Inventory]</strong>


    <strong>[System Store]</strong>


    It''s safe to say that Lumen was very satisfied with his stats now, even if he had to go through that gruelling training to achieve it. But in hindsight he knew it was 100% worth it.


    Over this time period he had also noticed subtle differences between the 21st century Earth he knew from his past, and the current Earth he presided on.


    Aside from the fact that there is a mysterious system as well as apletely unknown ''Fantasia Realm'' descending in less than a day, there were some differences that stood out from what his restricted knowledge told him. Things like subtle differences in the names of countries, differences in the history of this world etc.


    This led him to believe that he had not only time travelled, but he had also been sent to apletely different universe than the one he came from.


    Humanity in his world had only step foot in one other Universe than their own, making themplete newbies in the scale of the multiverse, so the possibility of them even knowing this ce exists, let alone discovering this ce anding here is miniscule at the highest.


    This was quite reassuring to him for now as the human race of the future had be quite domineering in their actions after acquiring cultivation techniques and had upgraded the potential of the entire human race. It was almost like after the events of the cultivation universe dering war on them, they no longer acted like their kind and cooperative previous selves.


    Theming to this universe would only mean bad things not only for Earth, but for the whole universe.


    Putting these thoughts aside, Lumen decided to open the timer for the countdown of the Fantasia realm, with it only being a couple hours away now.


    <strong>[Countdown to opening of Fantasia realm: 004:12:03]</strong>


    During his breaks from his body training quests, he also took note of the happenings of the mysterious supernatural events all around the globe.


    Around 1 week before hand, a person came forward iming to be one of the super humans that people were specting about and conspiracy theories formed around.


    When this super human came forward, the world was spective at first but he soon proved himself by disying his powers in front of the world, with many experts present to validate his words.


    When he used his powers to produce quite a potent me from anywhere on his body, the people of Earth finally believed him and started asking questions non stop without giving him a chance to exin himself.


    However when he managed to calm the people down enough for them to hear him, he only mentioned one thing to them.


    And that was the imminent event that wasing that would involve the whole.


    "In 1 week there will be an event called the ''opening of the Fantasia Realm''. What this is, we do not know. I''m sure all of the other super humans out there can corroborate my words as for each and every one of us, there sits a single row of words on each of our retina''s that acts somewhat like a timer from a VR game."


    "All this timer says to us is [Countdown to opening of Fantasia Realm: 170:45:54] which gives us a little over 1 week until this ''Fantasia realm'' opens on us. Again, nobody knows what this is and what this will entail for the human race."


    "However what I can say from my educated guess is that it will most definitely have something to do with the fact that some of us gained something like ''superpowers'' at the same time we saw this timer appear."


    There was confusion and an aspect of fear within the people of the Earth when the super human said his piece to the world.


    As expected, when the first person came forward proiming his powers to the world, as well as the opening of the Fantasia Realm, many more came forward to corroborate his statement and disying their own powers, as if it were some sort ofpetition to see who had better powers.


    Following this came statements from the highest level of every government promising to investigate this ''Fantasia Realm'', however they only found out as much as the super humans themselves, as it seemed no body had any idea of what woulde from this.


    All but one person of course.


    Lumen didn''t n on letting the world know more details about the Fantasia Realm, as he himself didn''t know much more than them.


    All the system had told him is that it is a realm of infinite adventures as well as a ce for him to raise his level, which would in turn allow him to raise his ''Soul tier'', which the system hinted at being supremely important to material beings such as him.


    This also led him to believe that letting more people in on this info wouldn''t bring him more benefits than it would drawbacks, as if an opportunity to quite literally level up your life was just handed to billions of people like this, then there would surely be intensepetition to stand above others and obtain more benefits for one self.


    Plus Lumen had only just obtained a human status, and so he felt quite detached from the people of this, especially after how humans treated him in his old world.


    He definitely wouldn''t take kindly to anyone who decided to stand in his way.

 Chapter 9: The Fantasia realm opens

    <h4>Chapter 9: The Fantasia realm opens</h4>


    Lumen had done everything the system had asked him to in order to prepare for the opening of the Fantasia realm. It would be safe to say that he is the most prepared person on Earth for the arrival of the Fantasia realm, as not only could he qualify as one of the strongest people on Earth, not including those with mysterious super powers.


    He sat down in hisb on his own private military base, waiting for the moment the realm opened.


    Every so often he would check the countdown on the system, anticipating what would happen and what he would see when the realm opened.


    <strong>[000:59:59]</strong>


    With less than an hour left before the realm opened, Lumen suddenly realised that he had a brain fart moment. He hadn''t even checked all of the facilities the system had provided to him on his status screen yet!


    He looked at the bottom of his status only to realise he hadpletely forgotten about the two options that stood out at the bottom of his status.


    <strong>[Inventory]</strong>


    <strong>[System Store]</strong>


    These two had beenpletely forgotten by him and he felt ashamed for it.


    Never in his endless life did he think he would be susceptible to such easily avoided scenarios, but with the sudden loss of the majority of his advanced knowledge as well as his ess to everything digital as a digital life form, he was only like every other average person. Only a little smarter than the majority of the poption.


    He still hadn''t gotten used to his new mental state and so it seemed he would have to be more cautious about that in the future, especially in the Fantasia realm.


    Not wanting to lose any opportunities due to his ignorance, he decided to check the details of the two options in order to see what they provided him.


    <strong>[Inventory: The host has their own personal spatial storage that nobody but you can ess, with additional properties such as the absence of time, allowing the user to preserve materials in there that would wither with the passage of time. The host is provided with 100 units of space as a starting point from the system. More units can be purchased from the system store using your credits.]</strong>


    The exnation for the inventory seemed rtively straightforward and seemed like it would be very useful for Lumen to prepare many things he would need in advance by storing them in the system.


    He went around hisb and base as quickly as he could and grabbed everything that seemed like it would be useful in a survival scenario, as the environment of the Fantasia realm was currently unknown to him so he would like to be as best prepared as he could.


    <strong>[000:32:01]</strong>


    After he gathered everything he deemed useful, he had filled up half of his inventory, leaving him with 50 units remaining.


    He also found out that duplicate items would be stored within the same unit as a stack which was quite convenient; he was left with more remaining slots as a result of this. This just reminded him once again of RPG games, as inventory systems in those games worked very simrly to this.


    Once he was done with the inventory, he moved onto the system store to check the details of.


    <strong>[System Store: The host can purchase many useful goods from the system using their credits. Make good use of your credits as the host can gain many good starting advantages in the Fantasia realm if used correctly.]</strong>


    This exnation was less detailed however the system store seemed more straightforward than the inventory.


    Without further deliberation Lumen opened the system store like the system rmended him to, and the list was short but the items he could purchase was very interesting.


    <strong>[System Store:</strong>


    <strong>1. Basic Health potion - Restores HP upon consumption: 100 credits</strong>


    <strong>2. Basic Mana potion - Restores MP upon consumption: 100 credits</strong>


    <strong>3. Inventory Unit(s) - Grants an extra unit of inventory space: 500 credits</strong>


    <strong>4. Basic survival tent - Allows the user a warm and dry ce to sleep at night, +10% to mana and health regeneration when sleeping in tent: 500 credits</strong>


    <strong>5. Food rations - Provides a months worth of food and water: 300 credits]</strong>


    Everything in this list of items seemed very useful for Lumen and only solidified his idea that he would be thrown into a survival scenario when the fantasia realm opens.


    Lumen only had 1300 credits at that time, and so his first purchase was the food rations, leaving him with 1000 credits left, and an extra 2 units in his inventory space filled in. Presumable 1 unit was for water, another unit for food.


    With the remaining 1000 credits he had to deliberate on what would be the best distribution of credits, he was obviously going to buy the basic survival tent, leaving him with only 500 credits left.


    In the end, he decided on buying 3 basic health potions and 2 basic mana potions, taking his total credits to 0.


    Feeling satisfied with himself now, he feltpletely prepared for the fantasia realm to open and didn''t have any worries except for the fact that he didn''t know what sort of environment he would be thrown into.


    <strong>[000:00:59]</strong>


    Very soon there was only less than a minute until the fantasia realm opened, leaving Lumen anticipated and the rest of the anxious on what this turn of events would lead to for their.


    <strong>[000:00:10]</strong>


    ...


    <strong>[000:00:03]</strong>


    ....


    <strong>[000:00:02]</strong>


    ...


    <strong>[000:00:01]</strong>


    .....


    <strong>[000:00:00]</strong>


    <strong>[The Fantasia Realm will now open.]</strong>


    <strong>[Wee to the tutorial]</strong>


    As soon as those system messages appeared on Lumen''s system screen, he felt as if he blinked his eyes and then suddenly he found himself somewhere entirely different. There was no prompt other than the system message, no feeling of being thrown through time and space like he had experienced before in his old universe. He just felt like he..... moved.

 Chapter 10: Tutorial

    <h4>Chapter 10: Tutorial</h4>


    When Lumen opened his eyes, he didn''t find himself in the expected natural environment. Instead he found himself in a.... room? This room seemed like it had no end, with the entire space being white with no shadows to tell if there were any corners or walls or ceilings to the room. Calling it a room was a severe understatement.


    The room reminded Lumen of something like an interrogation room except there was only 1 table and chair, presumably for him to sit on.


    "Hello....?" Lumen shouted confused.


    He started to get a little nervous at theck of a response from anyone, or anything.


    His onlyfort came when the familiar system notification came, this time instead of in front of him like it usually was, it was floating above the table, opposite of where Lumen sat.


    <strong>[Wee to the tutorial, human, this will be the only introduction you get to the Fantasia realm so listen very carefully. The circumstances of your new reality will be exined to you.] </strong>The system said to him in somewhat of an androgynous voice. He was all too familiar with this type of voice as it was the same type of voice he used back when he was the Central AI of the humans back in his old universe.


    <strong>[First of all, allow me to wee you to this new chapter of your life. Your has passed the minimum threshold of mana required in order to connect with the Fantasia realm and has thus been initiated into the realm. This will be your only opportunity to ask questions before you are thrusted into the tutorial, so ask away while you can.]</strong>


    Lumen''s mind was racing with thoughts at this moment. What should he ask the system?


    New chapter of his life? He had already begun this new chapter when he crossed over to this universe. Minimum threshold of mana? What was this minimum threshold? Many meaningful and mundane questions crossed his mind, but perhaps the most important question of all was the one he asked first.


    "What, or who, are you?" he blurted out, curious to the answer of this question the most.


    <strong>[I am the system, I oversee all initiations into the Fantasia realm and allow inferior lifeforms like you humans the ability to awaken your powers more easily and develop your level of life.]</strong> The system answered promptly, as if programmed to say this exact dialogue like it was asked this question all the time. It made no indications of borating further.


    Lumen listened to this exnation and could only ept what the system had to say about itself as he would clearly not get anything else out of it about itself.


    He moved on from this question and decided to ask another pressing question he had on his mind.


    "Is this the tutorial you spoke of when the Fantasia realm opened? or is there more toe after this ''chat'' ends?" He asked two questions in one as his first question didn''t seem specific enough.


    <strong>[This is simply a more in depth introduction to the Fantasia realm, though it is less useful to you who was granted ess to the system features a month earlier than the rest of the. As for your second question, there is indeed more to the tutorial than just this, as the tutorial hasn''t officiallymenced yet.]</strong>


    Lumen was stillprehending the system''s new answer but before he could even ask anymore questions, another system prompt came up.


    <strong>[Your time is now up, you will now be transported to the tutorial.]</strong>


    <strong>[All outside items carried with you from Earth apart from the clothes on your back and those obtained from the system will be removed from your inventory upon arrival in the tutorial. Good luck human.]</strong>


    Lumen once again got that feeling of being moved without any other feelings of spatial travel or the sort. He still didn''t get used to the weird feeling after experiencing it twice.


    He looked around him and found that he was stood on top of a tform, floating in the air above a seemingly endless forest, with no end in sight.


    Above him the sky bloomed blue with a few clouds dotted about.


    Far off into the distance he could see the sun ring over him and the rest of the forest, but more importantly he could also see other floating tforms off in the distance, he could make out a few ck dots which he presumed were other people from Earth. It seemed he was transported to this ce along side other people from Earth.


    His tform stood there stationary in mid air, with no indication of moving or lowering him to the ground.


    He also noticed that he wasn''t the only one on his tform when he finally focused on his own environment.


    There stood a total of 4 other people in his group, 5 including himself.


    His attention was taken away from the other people for a second as he had a notification from the system.


    <strong>[Wee to the tutorial. Your basic goal in this tutorial is to survive, however there are more objectives you canplete to obtain better rewards that will be exined in the quest you will receive shortly.]</strong>


    The system message soon went away when he read the whole thing.


    Another notification reced it though.


    <strong>[Skill Earned: Akashguages (Unique) - Gives the user the ability to understand all human and other sentient lifeformnguages, as well as their text forms.]</strong>


    The skill description was short but sweet as it would solve the problem of anguage barrier, that he would have been facing very soon as many people in his group seemed to be of different nationalities.


    He also only understood thenguage of Humans millions of years more advanced than these so he wouldn''t have been able to understand them at all without the system.


    There was no need for him to learnnguages as a digital life form in his old universe as everyone spoke the same universalnguage, and the job of studying ancientnguages was left to human schrs, not him.


    This was the first time he had heard of skills and a new section had appeared in his status under his stats section called ''skills'' where his newnguage ability was disyed.


    Right as he was about to start conversing with the other people in his group, he received yet another notification from the system.


    <strong>[Ding! Quest received.]</strong>

 Chapter 11: Goal: survival

    <h4>Chapter 11: Goal: survival</h4>


    <strong>[Name: Lumen]</strong>


    <strong>[Age: 0]</strong>


    <strong>[Race: Human]</strong>


    <strong>[Title: Bodyless Being, Enhanced Physique]</strong>


    <strong>[Talent: Perfect Mana Conduit]</strong>


    <strong>[Level: 1]</strong>


    <strong>[Experience: 0/250]</strong>


    <strong>[Health (HP): 6300/6300]</strong>


    <strong>[Mana (MP): 530/530]</strong>


    <strong>[Soul Tier: F]</strong>


    <strong>[Lifespan: ¡Þ]</strong>


    <strong>[Strength: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Agility: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Endurance: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Stamina: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Intelligence: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Wisdom: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Perception: 26]</strong>


    <strong>[Willpower: 13]</strong>


    <strong>[Unallocated points: 25]</strong>


    <strong>[Skills: Akashic Languages (Unique)]</strong>


    <strong>[Credits: 0]</strong>


    <strong>[Inventory: 5/100]</strong>


    <strong>[System Store]</strong>


    Not much had changed on Lumen''s status screen but a new section had been added underneath his stats called ''Skills'' where his current only skill presided. He also noticed a small count added to the inventory button, presumably disying the number of slots taken up in the inventory.


    Seeing the small amount of ''5'' and thinking about thest sentence the system said to him before he was transported here, Lumen was annoyed to find out that all of his effort in storing a whole bunch of survival equipment in preparation was all for nothing.


    <i>''Tsk, stingy system.''</i>


    He quickly got over it however as the notification rang for the well anticipated quest for this tutorial.


    <strong>[Ding! Quest received.]</strong>


    <strong>[Quest: Survive the tutorial</strong>


    <strong>Quest Difficulty: F ~ D</strong>


    <strong>Quest Description: You have been transported to the tutorial, a pocket dimension simting a series of tests and tribtions needed to survive in the Fantasia realm. Within a time limit of 2 months you will go through a period of survival; all basic aspects of survival will be up to you to fulfil, whether it is finding water, food or shelter, you will have only yourself and those you trust to rely on.</strong>


    <strong>Throughout the tutorial area there are many beasts and other mysterious items and encounters that you can experience that can either be beneficial or detrimental to your survival in this tutorial. Every move you make will be judged and you will be rewarded credits for meritorious actions.</strong>


    <strong>Examples of meritorious actions include: ying beasts, ying other humans, attainments in your own professions etc. You will learn more of how to earn credits the more you explore through the tutorial.</strong>


    <strong>A tutorial panel will be avable to view at any time during the duration of the tutorial for you to view.</strong>


    <strong>Quest time limit: 59 days 23 hours]</strong>


    As Lumen read through the quest description, his excitement could only rise at the prospect of rewards being given for things such as killing beasts within the tutorial. Killing other humans didn''t interest him much as everyone currently stood either at the same level as him or below him, as he had the advantage of essing the system a month earlypared to them.


    He would only consider killing other humans if they decided to be hostile to him first.


    Thinking of the idea of other humans either being hostile or friendly, he looked around him at the other 4 people on his tform.


    He didn''t have many interactions with other humans over the past month during his stay on Earth as he was too focused on his self to care about others.


    He also didn''t have much of a rtionship with humans in his previous universe as most of the conversations held were just them ordering him to do something and him obeying.


    Hence he didn''t exactly have goodmunication skills.


    This led to the next situation developing.


    "Jake." Lumen spoke, he was also the first person of the bunch to speak so the attention of all of them was naturally brought to him.


    However the most attention was brought to him through the tall, muscr bald man opposite him who he was eyeing up curiously.


    Suddenly the bald man spoke to Lumen, confused and a little cautious as everyone was new to this environment.


    "How do you know my name? Who are you? I''ve never seen someone like you before in my life...." The muscr bald man spoke, presumably named Jake as his confusion was stered all over his face.


    Lumen only pointed at Jake''s shirt and spoke once again, "It says it on your shirt."


    Silence descended on the tform as the 3 other people looked at Jake with a funny look, as if both feeling a little bad for him and mocking him.


    "Oh..." Was all Jake could muster up as his face went slightly red and started fidgeting.


    The awkward silencested for another 10 seconds until someone else coughed and introduced themselves in order to diffuse the awkward tension on the tform.


    "My name''s Will, from the US and currently 29 years old. Why don''t we introduce ourselves to each other to familiarise ourselves as clearly we are apart of some sort of team and stuck together in this ce called the ''tutorial''." Will was a rtively mature looking man with a few wrinkles on his face, quite unfortunate for someone still young like him. He hadbed over blond hair however his looks were rtively average and he didn''t stand out at all.


    Fortunately for him, someone did. It was actually Jake who suffered a slight embarrassment only a few moments beforehand.


    "Ahem, I''m Jake, also from the US and 23 years old. I actually have a super power that I call ''Warrior State'' that lets me increase my bodily strength by around 2.5x when I activate it."


    After Jake spoke, Will and the 2 others who had yet to introduce themselves had a surprised and joyful look on their faces at the revtion that Jake was one of the rumoured super humans that had been all over the world wide news before they were transported here.


    Very soon, another one introduced themselves, rather enthusiastically this time.


    "I''m Qu Quan, it''s a pleasure to meet you all! I''m 19 and from China. I also happen to have a super power as well, it''s pretty simple and I call it ''Hawk eyes'', it basically give me enhanced vision and allows me to even see rtively well in the dark, and even focus on objects as if they were right in front of me from over a kilometre away!"


    Qu Quan was a rather petite young asian woman who could be called a beauty in some cultures. She had long flowing ck hair with some silver highlights at the roots, a popr trend among the youths at the time. He face was also round and cute, like that of someone who had barely reached adulthood. One could only have the desire to protect someone like her when they set eyes upon her.


    Everyone was stunned and overjoyed now at the prospect of having two super humans on the team, their chances of survival would greatly increase now that they had two people whose powers would even be useful in a survival setting like this!


    Soon the 2nd tost person introduced themself.


    "I''m Shivi, 34 years old from India. Unfortunately I don''t have any super powers like the two of you but I''m very good with a bow. If we can somehow find or make myself a bow and arrows then I can be of use to all of you. By the way, I''m sure you are all aware of the system right? If not just say out loud or in your mind ''Status'' and a screen will appear in front of you." Shivi was a brown skinned man with a fairplexion and dark hair like the others, with only slightly above average looks.


    At the mention of the system, the others seemed to be enlightened and said ''Status'' like he said and wore amazed looks on their faces as their eyes darted around.


    However Jake was the first to wake up from his amazement and didn''t forget to ask the final person for their name.


    "My name is Lumen."


    Of course this final person was Lumen.

 Chapter 12: Class selection

    <h4>Chapter 12: ss selection</h4>


    "My name is Lumen, age 30 from Madagascar. Only a useless superpower." Lumen lied about his age so that he would fit in with the group and didn''t get too specific about anything else.


    Soon everyone got to know each other''s names and could all be said to now be on a first name basis. Everyone began speaking over each other, all expressing their confusion about their situation and asking each other what kind of questions they asked the system in the introduction, but some were more confused than others.


    Lumen simply stood back as he tried to internally grasp the situation while, of course, listening in on other''s conversations, chiming in with a few words of his own every once in a while. After the initial panic and confusion settles, each of them calmed down and started to assess their new reality.


    From what he could gather from their conversations, it seemed that each person was transported to their own respective introductory room and had gone through the exact same ordeal as Lumen had. However Lumen did manage to gather that it seemed he was the only person who had ess to the full system before being transported to this ce.


    Each person was not exactly wearing suitable clothes for survival, especially Qu Quan as she seemed to be wearing a short t-shirt with a skirt to offer her no protection at all against the elements.


    It seemed that Will had been somewhat more prepared and more thoughtful than the others as he arrived with some survival gear on him, even having a survival knife hanging from his waist with many other trinkets and tools on his belt.


    Jake was rtively normal as he was wearing his work clothes, hence having his name badge on disy, with arge winter coat covering up most of it as it seemed he lived in a colder part of the US.


    Lumen stood out the most though as he wore what could only be described as his clothes were all camouge and to his luck, he still had a knife on his waist just like will as it seemed the system wouldn''t be so unfair as to take that away from him along with the rest of his inventory.


    Shivi just wore some average clothes that were neither suitable nor unsuitable for survival as they only provided mild protection and didn''t cover everything.


    In the end it was decided that Jake would lend his big winter coat to Qu Quan to her many thanks for her to cover up a little bit for now.


    Once the topic of clothes was over, they started talking about skills, or more specifically the skill that everyone had received at the beginning of the tutorial, the ''Akashic Languages'' skill. Although the description seemingly told them all there was to know about it, they discussed how magical this skill was to allow them to easilymunicate with each other, as it seemed that even if they spoke in Chinese, for those that spoke English, her mouth movements matched that of English speaking words. This was truly out of this world to them!


    However before they could begin discussing about another topic, a new notification came to each of them simultaneously from the system.


    <strong>[Ding! ss Selection has begun]</strong>


    In front of each person there was now a new system panel, this one a little different from the ones they had already received.


    Lumen studied his panel carefully as this was clearly a big decision that would affect his future greatly.


    <strong>[Please select your starting ss. This will have effects on your future growth and will narrow down your options for growth.</strong>


    <strong>1. Light Warrior - Basic starting ss. Focused on quick attacks, evasion and agility. While faster than a heavy warrior, ites with a trade-off with a decrease in strength in exchange for increased agility. Main weapons include Short swords, daggers, hatchets, throwing weapons. Stat bonuses per level: +3 Agility, +3 Stamina, +1 Strength, +1 Endurance, +1 Unallocated stat.</strong>


    <strong>2. Heavy Warrior - Basic starting ss. Focused on power and defence while taking a trade-off with a decrease in agility and ranged attacks and an increase in strength and stamina. A heavy warrior is slower than a light warrior butes with the added increase in great power and defence. Main weapons include one handed sword and shieldbo, 2 handed long sword, tower shield. Stat bonuses per level: +3 Strength, +2 Endurance, +2 Stamina, +1 agility, +1 Unallocated stat.</strong>


    <strong>3. Archer - Basic starting ss. Rangedbat focused, an archer mainly uses bows and crossbows, coupled with a dagger for emergency closebat situations. This ss is flexible, fast and highly perceptive allowing for the host to more easily spot prey from longer distances. Stat bonuses per level: +2 Agility, +2 Perception, +1 Strength, +1 Endurance, +1 Unallocated stat.</strong>


    <strong>4. Mage - Basic starting ss. A magicalbat focused ss, can be focused on either close or rangedbat depending on spell usage. This ss favours brains over brawn and so can becking in defence in exchange for powerful destructive magic. This ss can be used without the usage of any weapons, however external tools such as wands or staffs can be used to amplify power. Stat bonuses per level: +4 Intelligence, +4 Wisdom, +1 Unallocated stat.]</strong>


    These were the four basic sses currently avable to every newbie in the tutorial. Lumen was currently contemting over which one he should choose. Logic determined that with his current stats he would benefit mostly from choosing either of the warrior options, with his current highest stats being his four physical stats.


    All sses were ''basic starting sses'' meaning no ss was better than the other. At least not yet. He also noted that each ss added a boost of 9 total stat points on top of the +3 to all stats one would receive per level up. Compared to the basic level up, these sses provided a more specialised selection of stats.


    Lumen was still considering which ss to choose and he noticed that a few of the others around him had already done so, with the system being generous enough to give them the starting equipment needed for their ss.


    He was about to choose a light warrior as his ss until...


    <strong>[Ding! Abnormal stat values detected.....]</strong>


    <strong>[You have met the requirements, hidden ss ''Spear Magister'' is avable as a fifth option.]</strong>

 Chapter 13: Spear Magister

    <h4>Chapter 13: Spear Magister</h4>


    <strong>[Ding! Abnormal stat values detected...]</strong>


    <strong>[You have met the requirements, hidden ss ''Spear Magister'' is avable as a fifth option.]</strong>


    Lumen was a little surprised at this new notification as he was just about to choose the Light Warrior as his ss. He didn''t expect to see a new hidden ss as an option for him to choose.


    He didn''t waste any time and immediately looked through the details of this new ss.


    <strong>[5. Spear Magister - Advanced starting ss. A hybrid ss focused on both close rangebatbined with the abilities of both a heavy and light warrior along with the abilities of a mage. This ss favours those who have both the brains and the brawn as both Intelligence and all physical stats need to be above 50 in order to meet the requirements of this ss. This ss''s main weapon is a spear with the addition of the host''s own magic. Stat bonuses per level: +2 intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +2 Agility, +2 Stamina, +2 Strength, +2 Endurance, +1 Perception, +1 Unallocated stat.]</strong>


    It was clear that this ss was vastly superior to all of the other basic starting sses just from the stat distribution alone, as it gave a whopping 14 extra points instead of the 9 the other sses gave.


    The ss was only even more appealing to him as it also provided a more flexible route for him in the future, as he wouldn''t just be limited to one path he was forced to follow in the future as he could develop in the direction of both a warrior and a mage at the same time. This ss was the most suitable for him right now as he was still undecided on what he wanted his future path to be.


    Lumen could only smile with glee internally as he dly epted this fifth ss as his own, prompting a notification from the system.


    <strong>[You have chosen the ''Spear Magister'' ss. Confirm?]</strong>


    Lumen was all too familiar with security questions like this as he himself had dished these out countless times over his lifespan as the Central AI.


    <strong>[You have obtained the ''Spear Magister'' ss.]</strong>


    As these words appeared on his system panel in front of him, he felt a stinging sensation in his head as unfamiliar information forced itself into his brain, providing him quite an ufortable experience. At the same time, some items appeared in his inventory but he was in no rush to check them out yet as his head was still stinging.


    But when his head finally calmed down he didn''t even get the chance to check his inventory before he was once again greeted by several system messages.


    <strong>[Gained skill: Basic Spear mastery (Common)]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained skill: Basic Footwork (Common)]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained skill: Basic Identify (Common)]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained skill: Basic Mana bolt (Common)]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained skill: Basic Mana reinforcement (Common)]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained skill: Heal (Umon)]</strong>


    Lumen looked at all of the basic skills he had just learned and he was rather proud and d that he chose this ss already. He doubted the other basic sses provided 6 skills right off the bat like this one did, at most he assumed they would provide 3 skills.


    Curious to see what each skill provided him with, he checked each ones description.


    <strong>[Basic Spear mastery (Lv.1 0%) (Common): You have obtained basic proficiency in the use of a spear inbat, however you still have a lot to learn. When using a spear, a miniscule synergistic effect is formed between the wielder''s strength and agility and the spear. +1% damage to all attacks dealt with a spear.]</strong>


    <strong>[Basic Footwork (Lv.1 0%) (Common): You have obtained basic proficiency in the art of movement inbat, but there is still much to be learned as your movements are sloppy. +1% movement speed when inbat.]</strong>


    <strong>[Basic Identify (Lv.1 0%) (Common): This skill grants the user the ability to obtain a very basic description of anything they focus on. Chant the word ''Identify'' to activate. Consumes 50 MP upon use.]</strong>


    <strong>[Basic Mana bolt (Lv.1 0%) (Common): Grants the user the ability to cast a bolt of mana which canunched at the enemy in an effective radius of 15 metres. Damage scales with user''s wisdom stat. Consumes 100 MP upon use.]</strong>


    <strong>[Basic Mana reinforcement (Lv.1 0%) (Common): Grants the user the ability to reinforce their weapon with mana, improving it''s overall strength, damage and speed inbat. Consumes 100 MP upon use.]</strong>


    <strong>[Heal (Lv.1 0%) (Umon): A life saving skill that has saved many mages and adventurers in the past. Grants the user the ability to heal injuries, restoring a total of 1000 HP.]</strong>


    As he read through the skills, all of them seemed to live up to their rating of ''basic'' and were rather tame for now, however he noticed that each one had a level and a corresponding percentage following it.


    However what seemed very interesting to him is that he instinctively knew how to use each ability, as if they were already ingrained into his memory. This would be the result of the stinging headache he had earlier.


    Ignoring his skills for the moment, he then turned to look at his inventory to see which new items he had obtained from the ss.


    Another 2 slots had been taken up, which seemed rather disappointing to him at first until he noticed that he had some new additions to his Health and mana potions, taking his original totals from 3 health and 2 mana to 6 health and 5 mana, meaning he had been gifted 3 of each potion by the system.


    This was quite a nice surprise for him as it was essentially the same value aspleting 6 body training quests.


    The other two slots were filled in by an ordinary looking spear about 2 metres in length, and a rather mundane and medieval looking set of leather clothes.


    He took them out of his inventory in order to inspect and equip them when he remembered one of his new skills.


    <i>''Identify''</i> He chanted in his mind.


    Without any dy, he received some new system messages.


    <strong>[You have used Identify on ''Tutorial spear'' and ''Bup armour''. -100 MP, gained 2% proficiency in [Identify]]</strong>


    Very soon their information showed up in front of him.


    <strong>[Tutorial spear (Common): A basic wooden spear crafted from a fine oak tree with a fitted coarse iron tip. +5% damage when using this spear.</strong>


    <strong>Durability: 100/100]</strong>


    <strong>[Bup armour (Common): Basic armour crafted from ordinary animal hide. +2% protection against physical and magic attacks.</strong>


    <strong>Durability: 100/100]</strong>


    The items weren''t anything special but it was expected for a starting ss.


    Lumen soon finished inspecting his new gear and skills and turned to face the other four people on his tform, who had also just finished dealing with their own ss selections.

 Chapter 14: Descent

    <h4>Chapter 14: Descent</h4>


    "Have all of you guyspleted your ss selection too?" The first person to speak was Will, who seemed to be eager to hear everyone''s answers.


    Seeing that nobody had replied to him yet, he decided to take the initiative and speak about his ss first.


    "I chose mage ss, and received 3 skills in total with 2 of them rted tobat." His initiative to speak his mind first seemed to have sparked a little bit of trust within the others as soon, Jake spoke too.


    "I chose a variant of the Heavy warrior ss thatplements my ''Warrior State'' superpower, it even seems I unlocked some hidden requirement to choose this ss due to my talent." Jake was honest with the bunch as he even revealed the fact that he received a ss that differed from the 4 basic sses.


    "I also chose a variant ss, simply called ''Hunter'' which came from the fact that I had my ''Hawk eyes'', its basically a better version of the archer ss." Qu Quan was the next person to speak as she received a surprised look from Jake, and an interested look from Will.


    "I simply chose the Archer ss, as I''ve already stated I''m good with a bow." Shivi was next to speak as his exnation was a lot more simple but he got his point across to the others.


    Lumen was the final person to speak.


    "I received a Spear warrior ss, a variant of the light warrior, which I can only assume was offered to me due to the fact that I practiced with the spear back on Earth for a while before I was transported here." Lumen told a half truth mixed with lies to the others as he didn''t feel it right to mention the extent of his variant ss to them.


    Although 2 of the others had surprisingly also obtained a variant ss simr to Lumen, they were clearly different in power and uniqueness as from what they said, it didn''t seem theirs didn''t grant them any abilities from a different ss, at least if they were telling the truth about their ss.


    As they moved on from discussing what sses they chose, they tallied up the sses and they turned out to have 1 light warrior, 1 Heavy warrior, 2 archers and 1 mage. It was a rtively bncedposition and if there were any gamers in the group they would know that thisposition would be quite efficient at hunting beasts.


    Moving on to their armours and outfits, they differed from ss to ss. Although the gear appeared in their inventories at first, by now they had all already equipped their armour and weapons.


    Lumen wore his bup light armour while Jake seemed to be wearing some very basic and poor coverage iron armour. Will wore some sort of mix between a cloak and gown, typical of the clich¨¦ mage from rpg games and novels.


    The two archers wore something simr to Lumen, with some bup armour that only provided the minimum protection. However Qu Quan seemed to be wearing a different pair of shoes to Shivi as they seemed more meticulously made, moreplex, as if they were better at hiding the sound they made in forested environments. Perfect for a ''hunter''.


    Their weapons were as basic and rudimentary as Lumen''s. Jake opted for a heavy two handed sword made of crude iron and looked as if it weighed at least 20 kilogram, whereas will only had on old and dead looking twig on his waist, which the others could only presume to be a wand. The two archers held recurve bows and a small dagger at their waists.


    Overall they were all garbed in poor quality clothing and armour with only the most basic and medieval weapons to rely on. It was clear there was some sort of theme going on here.


    Another topic discussed was the skills everyone was granted. Disappointingly everyone seemed to be granted the same type of ''mastery'' skills, except for will who was granted the ''Mana bolt'' skill, along with the ''Basic Identify'' which everyone had received. Obviously everyone also had the ''Akashic Languages'' skill as otherwise they wouldn''t have been able to converse with each other so clearly and easily.


    The four physical sses had also been granted the ''Footwork'' skill, with Will once again being left out of this, but he was rpensed with a skill that took everyone by surprise.


    ''Heal'' was the name of the skill of which the name was self exnatory. To everyone''s enquiry, will revealed that the description of the skill would heal a total of 1000 HP to the recipient.


    This was quite a surprise for the group to hear as except for Lumen, everyone''s stats were still rtively low so 1000 HP would be arge majority of their HP when used.


    The only downside was that it used quite alot of mana, 150 to be exact which meant that at Will''s current level he would only be able to cast it once before he would have to recuperate his mana.


    However as he levelled up this temporary restriction would be gone and his proficiency in using the skill would rise, which would scale with the total amount of HP he could heal.


    Once everyone was finished discussing their skills, they were about to move on to another topic when something caught all of their attention.


    "Look.... Doesn''t it look like there are other tforms like ours floating in the sky off in thr distance?" Qu Quan was the first to notice due to her Hawk eyes power, but as soon as she pointed it out the others quickly became aware of it too.


    Though Lumen had already taken note of it earlier before the ss selection had even begun.


    "Now that I think about it, didn''t the quest say that there would be extra rewards for killing both beasts and humans...." Jake spoke.


    It seemed that the reality of their situation had just dawned upon them.


    This wasn''t a game, whether they liked it or not this was reality and the system had pointed that fact out many times before this.


    However before any of them even had time to think about their situation, the sudden movement of their tform took their attention.


    "Look, the tform''s going down! It seems the tutorial is finally starting for real this time..."

 Chapter 15: Discussing strategies

    <h4>Chapter 15: Discussing strategies</h4>


    The group of five felt the tform underneath them shake slightly, as it slowly began to lower to the forest below. Lumen checked all of his equipment to make sure it fit properly while he collected his thoughts on what was about to happen. He looked around and noticed the slight unease and anxiousness exuded from the other four as they collectively were about to face something that nobody knew the oue of.


    Will seemed to be a natural born leader though as although he was one of the youngest in the group, he was one of the most mature and a forward thinker. He was the person to take the most initiative while the tform slowly descended toe up with a quick n to make the best use out of the group''s newly obtained abilities.


    It seemed that he had some sense as a leader and had yed his fair share of games, as he knew to keep himself the most protected person of the group as the only healer. Him being both the leader and the healer seemed most convenient for them, as he didn''t have to focus onbat like the other four and only had to focus on organising the group and healing any wounds they or he might get.


    It seemed that an unspoken rule had formed that he would be the leader of this small rag tag group.


    The group mainly discussed their first n of action while the tform descended, with the main theme being: Survival. They all received their sses and two of them even had super powers which the group had now found out were awakened ''talents'' from their status menu. Each person had also been distributed their own portion of potions by the system as well, 3 Health and 3 Mana potions each.


    The mana potions only being useful to Will and Lumen for now as nobody but them had ess tobat or team based skills that used mana yet. The Health potions would be saved until situations that demanded them, such as when Will''s heal wouldn''t be enough.


    All everyone had was the clothes and armour on their bodies, along with their weapons and the potions in their inventories. Aside from Lumen''s secret 1 month supply of water and food, nobody had any ess to the necessities for survival and so set that as their main goal from the moment the tformnded on the ground.


    They had managed to reach an agreement that although some of them may have just wanted to get through this tutorial and survive, others wanted to actually achieve something in this and so they came to apromise.


    They all agreed that hunting beasts was a necessity as they needed a source of food, and they doubted the system would be so kind to give them the opportunity to find fruits or vegetables that were safe to eat as everything seemed to be against them in this tutorial so they wouldn''t trust such a thing.


    However one thing that everyone, including Lumen, agreed on was that they would not antagonise other survivors and would even do their best to avoid them as they didn''t like the look of the part of the tutorial quest that said killing other humans would reward credits.


    Very soon, the tform touched through the canopy of the forest and arrived at the ground, leaving the group of five in the middle of a seemingly endless shade of green before the tform carried on going down and phased into the ground, never to be seen again.


    A tense atmosphere filled the group as they now discussed their best measures for now.


    Will was the first to speak as the unspoken leader of the group.


    "Our first priority will be to search for water, then food and shelter will be our second and third priorities. We can only survive without water for three days so we need to be on this as soon as possible. As expected, these flora and fauna look different from that of what we know on Earth, so we can''t trust these to give us what we need." Will made many logical points to the group to which almost all of them agreed, until Lumen pointed something out.


    "I wouldn''t ce our bets on the flora and fauna being inedible yet. You are forgetting one very important point about our situation, that being the presence of magic and the system!"


    The group didn''t understand what he was getting at, at first, until they watched him walk up to a random alien looking nt in the vicinity and chant a word.


    "Identify" Lumen chanted as the group looked on with surprise and realisation in their eyes.


    They had forgotten they all received the Basic Identify skill!


    A system message appeared in front of Lumen''s eyes.


    <strong>[Used skill: Basic Identify]</strong>


    <strong>[Name: Devil''s Ivy</strong>


    <strong>Description: A highly poisonous nt that protects against predators using a liquid secretion method from its stem when it is attacked or ingested. Very dangerous if eaten, can cause severe injuries or in the worst case, death.]</strong>


    Lumen ryed the results of his identify to the others and although the nt was clearly unsafe for eating, they were overjoyed at the fact that one of their biggest hurdles wouldn''t be so hard to ovee with the addition of their Basic Identify skill!


    However they were still tasked with the burden of finding water, which if worst came to worst Lumen would fake going out to look for water and coincidentally finding a mysterious chest out in the wilderness, which would have in it an abundant amount of water. Of course this would just be his own monthly supply of water he bought from the system, and he would just be taking advantage of the system''s words about the tutorial''s mysteriousness as an excuse to his group.


    The group soon set off in a random direction keeping their eyes and ears out for any signs of a water source.


    Along their journey they had managed to spot many weird looking creatures in the distance a few times, being too far to investigate as by the time they had even readied their weapons the beast would be no where to be seen.


    After a total of four hours of walking and at a point when the group seemed to be at an impasse of exhaustion and started getting hungry and thirsty, they came across a small pond of water to the entire group''s joy.


    However before they could finally celebrate, they soon spotted that they weren''t the only ones contending for the pond, as the group spotted two overgrown rat like creatures drinking from the pond and staring at them with fury in their yellow and red eyes.

 Chapter 16: The first battle

    <h4>Chapter 16: The first battle</h4>


    The group tensed up as they had a staring showdown with the two rat creatures across the pond from them.


    "What are those things?" Jake asked as he looked across the pond at the two creatures who stared intensely back at them.


    Nobody answered as they all subconsciously knew the answer to that question. They were beasts.


    Qu Quan seemed to be somewhat calmpared to the others, except for Lumen, as she had taken the initiative to use her basic identify skill on one of the creatures.


    Compared to the information she would get from identifying a nt, the info she got from using on this beast was short but extremely important for them.


    <strong>[Enraged rodent - level 2]</strong>


    This piece of info was all got, but she quickly informed the rest of the group of her findings and it didn''t improve the atmosphere.


    "Oh great idea! How did I not think of that!" Will answered back in a cheer and gave Qu Quan a light pat on the back.


    Everyone there was level 0 and had little to no experience inbat except for maybe Shivi and Lumen who lied about his experience.


    Everyone was still tense until Lumen spoke up.


    "The gap between levels doesn''t seem that big as it''s only a difference of two, plus we out number them 5 to 2 so we should have the advantage of both numbers and strength since we have Jake with his strength increasing talent and with the two archers and will backing us up, it shouldn''t be too scary to think about defeating them if we are careful and work together." It was the first time Lumen had spoken to them for so long but his words held a lot of sway over the group as it seemed to have boosted their morale and confidence.


    "He''s right, we shouldn''t be so scared facing beasts at such a level! Lets get into formation with Jake and Lumen at the front, me in the middle and the Qu Quan and Shivi at the nk. Come on guys, we''ve got this!" Will chimed in after Lumen to rouse everyone into action.


    Everyone was still anxious but the feeling was overwhelmed by the adrenaline coursing through their body.


    Very soon they put their strategies in to action.


    The n was simple, to have everyone stand back at first while the archers fired off ranged attacks from a distance, aiming to deal some damage or maybe even get a kill on one or both of them. While this was happening, Jake and Lumen would nk from both sides of the pond and cover the rodent beasts'' sides.


    The idea of attacking them straight on came from Lumen who noted that their name stared with ''Enraged'' meaning they probably had little reason inside their heads and would attack mindlessly. This would make things both easy and difficult for them as it meant they wouldn''t just run away, but them not running away meant they would put up the fiercest of fights and wouldn''t hold back in the slightest.


    Will wanted to help with the archer''s ranged attacks but his Mana bolts only had a range of 15 metres and he couldn''t get close to them as the group''s ''only'' healer. Plus he didn''t have any physical capabilities like everyone else.


    The archers started firing from the nk of the group as the first round of arrows missed their target, but luckily in the second round Shivi managed to get a good shot in andnded an arrow right on one of the rodent''s legs.


    With it''s mobility majorly slowed Jake and Lumen would have an easier time fighting them.


    With the arrival of the third round of arrows the two warriors arrived next to the beasts, this time Qu Quan had got a hit on the second rodent right in the eye, but not deep enough to reach it''s brain.


    Lumen arrived and upon his first contact with the rodent, he noticed that they weren''t as strong as he expected.


    Although he knew he had very high statspared to the average human, he didn''t think the same would be the case for any beasts he came across.


    This revtion naturally boosted his confidence even more as he grew even more aggressive with his attacks, his proficiency in his spear mastery rising every time hended a hit on the rodent or blocked an iing attack with his spear.


    Jake was also faring well against the rodent he upied as he had already activated his strength talent, boosting his strength stat by 2.5x, giving him a big edge over the beast as he was pushing back against it with sheer strength alone.


    With the skill activated he even had a little higher strength than Lumen, to his surprise, as the battle continued for only another couple of minutes.


    The other three didn''t even need to help out anymore as Jake and Lumen werepletely dominating the beasts.


    Soon both beasts fell as Lumen and Jake stood above their prey, Lumen not even breaking a sweat while Jake had some minor injuries that Will had already begun to heal.


    The fight had surprised them all as it was actually way easier than all of them thought it would go, to all of their joy of course.


    Lumen and Jake were too focused on their own gains from their kills though to focus on the chattering of the other three.


    Lumen inspected all of the system messages that he had just received.


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 2 F tier beast]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 112 experience]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 24 credits]</strong>


    <strong>[Obtained 1 F tier beast carcass - edible]</strong>


    The bodies of the dead beast soon disappeared in front of everyone''s eyes and went straight into Jake and Lumen''s inventories.


    "I gained a total of 96 experience from my kill, only 4 exp off levelling up to level 1! I also got 21 credits as well. What about you Lumen, what did you get from your kill?" Jake asked jubntly as his gains hadn''t been so bad.


    Lumen answered truthfully to the group as it seemed that the experience and credits gained from a kill would be split in order of contribution to the kill.


    Shivi and Qu Quan both confirmed this as they exined they they had also gained a little exp and credits from the kills, but not as much as Lumen and Jake.


    Shivi exined that he gained 38 experience from the rodent Lumen killed, with 6 credits.


    Qu Quan had also received a little more than Shivi due to her shot to the other rodent beast''s eye and the team quickly determined that for 1 kill on a level 2 beast, the most one could gain if fought solo would be 150 exp, and 30 credits.

 Chapter 17: Distributing stats

    <h4>Chapter 17: Distributing stats</h4>


    The group were soon finished looking through their new system notifications and and now set their focus on the two dead beasts thaty before them.


    This would be their food source for the next few days, leaving them with only the goal of building or finding sufficient shelter before all three of their primary goals will be aplished for the time being.


    The group were ratherx now with the new knowledge that the level 2 beasts weren''t as scary and powerful as they had first assumed, and they looked at Jake and Lumen in a new light as these two were clearly the ones who had made the fight so easy.


    In particr the group looked at Lumen with a few odd and curious nces as he had even contributed more to the fight than Jake and even managed toe out of it in the endpletely uninjured and not even breaking a sweat, unlike Jake who had some minor cuts and bruises, with his breathing ragged.


    The others went searching forrge sticks and leaves in order to create some temporary shelters near the small pond, keeping their water source close so they could both protect it and use it to lure any other unsuspecting beasts intoing here when they needed to drink, to which they would strike once again.


    While the others did this, Lumen made an excuse to go off in a certain direction on his own looking for sticks and leaves just like the others.


    When he came back he brought more than just sticks and stones though as he also brought something that made the others a little jealous of him.


    He arrived not only with arge pile of sticks which he dumped from his inventory, but he also arrived with the survival tent that he had bought from the system before he entered the tutorial.


    The group questioned where he found it but he only told them that he came across it by chance hidden under a pile of leaves, suggesting it may be one of those ''fortunate encounters'' the system had described under the quest description.


    With the three goals beingpleted and the sun slowly setting, Lumen could only sit there in his thoughts as he waited for the rodent meat to cook with the others.


    Everyone was engaged in conversation with each other while Lumen was busy looking at his status screen.


    <strong>[Name: Lumen]</strong>


    <strong>[Age: 0]</strong>


    <strong>[Race: Human]</strong>


    <strong>[Title: Bodyless Being, Enhanced Physique]</strong>


    <strong>[Talent: Perfect Mana Conduit]</strong>


    <strong>[Level: 1]</strong>


    <strong>[ss: Spear Magister]</strong>


    <strong>[Experience: 112/250]</strong>


    <strong>[Health (HP): 6300/6300]</strong>


    <strong>[Mana (MP): 530/530]</strong>


    <strong>[Soul Tier: F]</strong>


    <strong>[Lifespan: ¡Þ]</strong>


    <strong>[Strength: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Agility: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Endurance: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Stamina: 63]</strong>


    <strong>[Intelligence: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Wisdom: 53]</strong>


    <strong>[Perception: 26]</strong>


    <strong>[Willpower: 13]</strong>


    <strong>[Unallocated points: 25]</strong>


    <strong>[Skills: Akashic Languages (Unique), Basic Spear Mastery (Common), Basic Footwork (Common), Basic Identify (Common), Basic Mana bolt (Common), Basic Mana reinforcement (Common), Heal (Umon)]</strong>


    <strong>[Credits: 24]</strong>


    <strong>[Inventory: 4/100]</strong>


    <strong>[System Store]</strong>


    Not much had changed in terms of his stats, with his unallocated stats still being unused. He decided that it was finally time to distribute them and decided that his best course of action was to follow the distribution scheme of his ss, putting 4 in intelligence, wisdom, agility, stamina, strength and endurance, leaving the perception stat alone for now as it didn''t provide him muchpared to its use for archers.


    This left him with stats looking like this:


    <strong>[Strength: 67]</strong>


    <strong>[Agility: 67]</strong>


    <strong>[Endurance: 67]</strong>


    <strong>[Stamina: 67]</strong>


    <strong>[Intelligence: 58]</strong>


    <strong>[Wisdom: 57]</strong>


    <strong>[Perception: 26]</strong>


    <strong>[Willpower: 13]</strong>


    <strong>[Unallocated points: 0]</strong>


    He decided to put the extra 1 point into his intelligence to take his total up to 58, as well as making his total mana pool just a little bit higher at 580.


    With all of the upgrades to his stats, his total health and mana now were at 6700/6700, and 580/580 respectively.


    After he was done inspecting and distributing his stats, he then turned to his newly created skill category and decided to take a look at how much his proficiency had went up in his skills after his battle with the rodent.


    <strong>[Basic Spear Mastery (Lv.1 6%) (Common)]</strong>


    His spear mastery had gone up by a total of 6% from one fight, and Lumen didn''t know whether that was a big increase or a small increase as it was the first time he had battled a beast and increased his proficiency so he could only see how it was after he gained more experience.


    His basic footwork was also in a simr state with it being at 5% proficiency, still at level 1. Being a percentage point lower than that of his spear mastery, he could only assume that it was harder to train and increase his footworkpared to his spear mastery.


    <strong>[Basic Identify (Lv.1 10%) (Common)]</strong>


    His basic identify skill however had seen an increase of 10% just from identifying the poisonous nts from earlier that day.


    From this he could assume that basic Identify was one of the easier skills to increase proficiency out of his entire skillset as it saw the highest increase from the lowest efforts.


    His other two mage based skills were still at 0% proficiency as he didn''t make the effort to use them in the battle as it was not needed due to the ease of the fight, as well as not wanting to disy his magical prowess in front of the others before they had gained his trust.


    As he was finally finished inspecting his status screen, he was approached by will and the others as it seemed they had something to talk about.


    "Hey Lumen! We were just now discussing how to go on from now, and we wanted toe to a unanimous decision before finalising any things." Will spoke to him in a friendly tone.


    "What he means is, we were thinking about having you on the first night watch along with Qu Quan. Your prowess in fights is clearly nothing to scoff at, andbined with her hawk eyes talent and archery abilities, we feel like this would be the bestbo for the first night watch that would arguably be the most dangerous." Shivi chimed in before Will could ramble on anymore without getting to the point.


    Lumen considered it for a second and nodded at their thoughts, thinking they had indeed made the right choice in people for the first night watch.


    "Sure, that sounds like a good idea. I''ll take 1 side of the camp, you take the other side Qu Quan. However I suggest that we rotate watches after 4 hours pass, we''ll wake Shivi and Jake up after 4 hours in order to switch shifts. This will be the best situation for now as we are all tired and we can''t have two of ourbatants running on no sleep for 2 days." Lumen replied back, agreeing to their idea but not before pointing out arge w in it and suggesting an alternative.


    The other four seemed to have a look of realisation on their faces as they embarrassedly agreed with his new n. They had failed to consider that the two who watched at night would also need sleep, making fools of themselves for forgetting this fact.

 Chapter 18: Hidden in the night

    <h4>Chapter 18: Hidden in the night</h4>


    Lumen and Qu Quan had taken the first shift of the night watch. The night was quiet which was wonderful at first, until they realised that they were in the middle of a forest filled with beasts and who knows how many other humans. There were no howls, no screeches, no roars or even the hoots of any owls. All one could hear was the rustling of the leaves in the breeze.


    The two watchmen''s responsibility was simple and easy to understand. All they had to do was to keep an eye on their surroundings, using both their eyes and ears as the silent environment may have been quite unsettling; it provided a perfect opportunity for the two of them to hear any attackers easier in the silence.


    Lumen was doing his routine walk around the camp, surveying the perimeter of the makeshift border they had marked. The location of their camp was rather suited to their situation, unless any suspecting enemies wanted to cause amotion by going through the pond, they were locked to the other three directions of attack, making it easier to defend.


    However there were trees and bushes all around them from every other direction, which in conjunction with the darkness of the night only made finding any anomalies or suspected attackers beforehand only made the job of being the night watchman even harder. Any number of enemies could have them surrounded from those directions right now and they wouldn''t even know it until they attacked.


    The group could only ce their hopes on Qu Quan''s ''Hawk eyes'' talent that provided her better vision at night to spot any attackers.


    But even she needed sleep so they couldn''t rely solely on her.


    The group could only sleep in the cold darkness as having a fire burning all night would only be the most obvious and clich¨¦ way to give their location away.


    Their enemies included both humans and beasts and both of them knew the basic fact that, where there is fire, there is people.


    With how boring it was to stare into the darkness for 4 hours straight, Lumen could only preupy his mind with other things.


    One of these being the fact that the night is so silent.


    Although it seems eerie being in such a scenario, Lumen looked at the bright side of it in that it probably meant that the beasts inhabiting this forest weren''t nocturnal, meaning that they could get a moment of respite and actually rest after long days of surviving.


    Even the big rat like rodent creatures they had battled earlier would normally be seen mostly at night if this were back on Earth, the fact that their behaviour was different and they were openly drinking from a pond mid day only made him believe his theory even more.


    However this could only mean that the enemies to be worried about at night would be humans then,plicating his situation.


    His vignce remained high as his theory still remained just as that, a theory.


    He had seen other floating tforms in the distance at the start of the tutorial and from how far away they were where the figures on them looked like specs he could tell that the distance between them and other humans would be measured in the dozens of kilometres, but he didn''t throw away his thoughts of one of these groups spending the whole day travelling in their direction.


    It had only been around half a day and it wouldn''t be impossible for other people to have reached them by now.


    The minutes soon turned into hours and his boredom caught up with him again. Sitting still and staring keeping an eye out while walking the perimeter every now and then may sound easy but keeping up his concentration and focus on his surroundings at all times was getting tiring for him.


    Qu Quan seemed to be doing well herself in this regard but was still showing signs of tiredness and boredom.


    Lumen was about to walk over to her side and start a chat with her over anything he could think of as he was simply too bored and hisck of sleep was getting to him.


    But before he even made half the distance between them, he heard a sudden rustle from the bush he had just turned his back to.


    His focus was wavering and so he was a little slow on the uptake at first, but it only took him half a second to register the sound and turn around with full focus in the direction of the sound. There was something distinct about this sound that instinctively gave him the feeling that it wasn''t caused by the wind.


    He kept his concentration entirely on the bushes in front of him as he slowly approached, making sure to keep his steps quiet. As he got closer he could now hear slight rustling that he couldn''t hear when he was further away. It seemed only he had noticed this slightmotion in the bushes as Qu Quan still remained concentrated on her own area.


    He drew his spear as he neared the bush, prepared for anything to suddenly jump out at him at a moment''s notice.


    With his high stats, naturally his bodily responses would be faster than an ordinary human and they showed at this moment.


    He felt movement in the bush in front of him, however before whatever was in the bush could lunge at him, he reacted quicker and thrusted his spear into the bush, meeting resistance when he pushed it in and a fleshy sound of something being ripped.


    It seemed his instincts had yed out well for him as it seemed he had quickly dispatched of the unexpected attacker, as after the final loud rustle of the bush from his jab, no more sounds came from the bush.


    Right as he was about to check his system messages to see what exactly he had just killed, a multitude of movements and sounds suddenly flushed him and Qu Quan from many different directions. Many shadowy and dark figures came out of bushes from every direction, totalling to 6 overall.


    He couldn''t properly tell what they were, but their humanoid figures were clear.

 Chapter 19: Attack at night (1)

    <h4>Chapter 19: Attack at night (1)</h4>


    Lumen stared at the humanoid figures intensely as Qu Quan had only just reacted to the sudden situation and had a nervous and shocked look on her face. She didn''t expect that they would be attacked on their first night!


    Lumen had managed to make his way closer to the camp, where he could now make out the attacker''s figures enough to identify them.


    He got a proper look at the assants and saw that they were all human, with 6 of them surrounding the vignt Qu Quan and Lumen. There seemed to be a leader of the group, a middle aged man with a scruffy unshaven face, and a short buzzcut. He wore an outfit identical to that of Jake, a suit of crudely made iron armour for heavy warriors.


    The attackers didn''t give the duo a chance to speak as they continued on with their surprise attack, with the leader going for Lumen and two other younger members going for Qu Quan, licking their lips as they clearly didn''t n on just killing her.


    The other three attackers went in the direction of the makeshift tents towards the other three members of Lumen''s group, still asleep from the long exhausting day.


    The warrior swung his short sword at Lumen as different in regard to Jake, he had decided to go for a sword and shieldbo, instead of a two handed sword or a tower shield. He was met with the resistance of Lumen''s spearbined with his high strength and agility stats, not allowing him to get within reach of his body.


    However the leader seemed to be quite strong himself, maybe even possessing a talent simr to Jake as he managed to hold his own against Lumen.


    Lumen knew this situation was very unfavourable to their group, as not only were they outnumbered, their attackers seemed stronger than your average human.


    The only happiness Lumen could feel in this situation was that he managed to kill one of them before they hadunched their attack or they would have been at even more of a disadvantage.


    Seeing the disadvantageous situation they were in, Lumen did the first thing he thought of that could give them some time to fight back.


    "WILL! SHIVI! JAKE! WAKE THE FUCK UP RIGHT NOW, WE HAVE UNWELCOME COMPANY!"


    He shouted to the top of his lungs, his voice reverberating throughout the surrounding forest as it was the only sound other than the shing of metal and quiet grunts from the men that could be heard for kilometres.


    With his loud shout, the three people mentioned woke up in a daze at first but upon first sight of the attacking party, they jolted up from their sleeping positions and equipped all of their gear in an instant thanks to their inventory.


    Lumen, noticing the nervous look on Will''s face, tookmand of the fight and issued orders to the others, still maintaining his stalemate with the leader of the enemies.


    "Will, you stay at the nk and cast heal to who ever needs it! Shivi, you stay near Will to protect him and shoot any openings you can see in the enemies! Jake, you go over and help Qu Quan, do your best to lead her over to Shivi and Will where she can add to the barrage of arrows!" Lumen issued hismands while keeping his entire concentration on the fight in front of him.


    While he may have lost his knowledge and domination in the digital domain, his countless years of experience in multi-tasking and issuing countlessmands and orders throughout the whole human race were still ingrained into his very soul.


    His experience showed now as he managed to take control of the situation surrounding his groupmates while perfectly defending against the enemy leader''s attacks.


    However the enemies wouldn''t just sit there and watch while Lumen slowly got his group in order, and they did their best to stop it.


    The enemy group also consisted of a mix between warriors and archers, thankfully not having a mage with them to bombard them with mana bolts or heal any injuries.


    Once his orders were issued, he focused all of his attention back on the leader in front of him while keeping watch on his group every now and then.


    He felt a sense of dangering from the middle aged man in front of him, the first he felt sinceing to the tutorial.


    The heavy warrior was bombarding him with a powerful strike, but Lumen managed to block this with his spear. The warrior took a step back and swung his sword once again, relentless in his desire to strike Lumen down here and now. This time there seemed to be a faint glean of light surrounding the sword that was barely noticeable but with his intense state of concentration, Lumen had taken notice of it.


    His attempt to block this attack was met with the first feeling of pain he had received from another human. He didn''t let the slight surprise get to him as he kept his defence up, looking for an opportunity to snake his way past the warrior''s shield with his spear andnd a deadly strike.


    Before he could do this, he felt another sense of dangering from behind him. He could head the wind rushing and splitting behind him with his heightened senses. This came along with a shout from Qu Quan who now stood beside Will and Shivi.


    "Look out lume-" Before she could even finish her sentence, Lumen had already used his agility to the max and shifted his head to the side.


    The arrow shot by one of the enemy archers missed his head by a narrow few millimetres and out of a sheer miracle or coincidence, managed to slit itself in a gap in his leader''s armour where his arm holding the shield stood.


    With a surprise of shock from the archer and a grunt of pain from the leader, Lumen didn''t fail to take advantage of the sudden change in the situation and with a swift jab of his spear he prated the leader''s other arm through another slit in his armour, causing him to also drop his sword.


    The situation had quickly turned around for the warrior as he now stood in front of the enemy without a weapon in hand, and shouted for assistance from one of the other warriors in his attacking group.


    But before help could arrive, Lumen with his much more agile and flexible movements made a swiping motion at the warrior.


    Silence ensued between the two as Lumen had halted his attacks and focused his attention elsewhere, while the leader had a confused look in his eyes before it soon turned to horror.


    The silence was soon drowned out by a gurgling from the warrior''s now slit throat as he dropped to the ground, lifeless within seconds.

 Chapter 20: Attack at night (2)

    <h4>Chapter 20: Attack at night (2)</h4>


    The fight in the camp came to a standstill at the sight that Lumen had just provided them all with. Lumen''s group looked a little sad and some even looked nauseous as this would be the first time they had seen another human die in such a gruesome way right in front of their eyes.


    The attacking group were also stupefied, but for different reasons. Their leader, the strongest of the lot of them had just been in without the ability to even damage the other party. This came as a big shock to them as they had even ploughed through other groups of people before arriving at theirs and they hadn''t met much resistance yet.


    They were already a little riled up from the fact that one of them was killed before they could even leave their positions, and now their leader had been in in direct one on onebat.


    Some regained their spirit quicker than others though as one man wearing light warrior armour and wielding an axe, appearing to be a variant ss, started sprinting at Lumen from his nk.


    It turned out they still had one enemy hidden in the bushes!


    The addition of the new enemy seemed to have enabled the attackers to regain some of their spirit as they made some incoherent roars and shouts before they continued their onught on this group of five.


    Lumen was unprepared to receive an attack from a new unknown enemy and was unable to block or dodge by the time he noticed the man. He was at a loss what to do with this new axe wielding warrior from nowhere approaching at a fast speed. He had little time to think as he only managed to do what came to his mind first. Before the axe managed to split his head in two, he managed to force his spear in front of the iing axe.


    He managed to block it but was now thrown backwards onto the ground with the warrior now on top of him, the axe wedged in the spear handle as neither were able to retrieve their weapons even using their full strength.


    The warrior tried to pull his axe back to perform another head splitting move, but he couldn''t pull it out of the spear handle and neither could Lumen pull his spear away from the man''s grip on the axe. The fight had turned into a stalemate. Lumen tried to get his spear back to retreat a distance away but it acted against his wishes and even aided the warrior in pinning him to the ground.


    All it took was a perfectly timed arrow from one of the archers to deal some significant damage to him and so he did his best to struggle out of this tricky situation.


    It didn''t take a genius to know that his situation right now lookedpletely in the axe warrior''s favour. The man seemed to be just like the leader he had just killed and had a strength on par with him and maybe even a little bit stronger than him as clearly he also had a strength rted talent.


    He looked to his team mates but they were all preupied with their own fights and wouldn''t be able to help him out of this situation. He could only rely on himself for this.


    Lumen was somewhat at a loss once again as his strength just wasn''t high enough to overwhelm the enemy warrior. His thinking convoluted with thoughts however not a single one was helpful in getting him out of this.


    He was all out of ideas and almost about to give up when he remembered his talent.


    <strong>[Perfect Mana Conduit]</strong>


    He had almostpletely forgotten about this talent before now as it seemed useless to him as he mainly focused on his physical skills and stats, but thankfully he had the brain to choose a ss that had magical abilities too.


    The system really had screwed him over with taking his advanced knowledge away as he wouldn''t be in this situation if it had not.


    If he remembered correctly, his talent description said he was a ''Perfect conduit for mana to pass through and faced no restrictions in the usage and power of mana'' or something simr to that.


    His intuition told him this would bring him untold benefits as he decided to stop thinking and put his blind trust in his intuition.


    And so he did just that, he stopped thinking entirely and just..... reacted.


    The axe warrior saw Lumen''s face go from agitated and even fearful to aplete calm and serene state.


    He didn''t take much notice to this as just changing his facial expressions couldn''t save him from death in this situation.


    However he was wrong.


    Lumen removed his hand from his spear as he instead now ced it at his waist, his palm facing the warrior''s abdomen.


    The man seemed prideful and excited at the action as he thought his prey had finally given up, but he couldn''t be more wrong.


    Lumen had no thoughts at the moment but that wouldn''t stop him from activating a skill he had yet to use.


    <strong>[Mana Bolt]</strong>


    Out of nowhere, a sh of mana and light conglomerated in Lumen''s palm as it very quickly formed a ball containing this converged energy.


    Before the warrior had time to react to this, the ball left Lumen''s hand and at the speed of an arrow firing, hit the man right in his stomach.


    Silence once again covered the camp as both sides were now in shock at what they had just witnessed.


    <i>''Did that warrior just use magic!? How..... What?''</i>


    The other attackers and even his own team mates couldn''t believe it as Lumen had somehow used magic to severely injure the warrior who looked like he was sure to win.


    The mana bolt hit the man square in his stomach, hitting an area where many of his vital organs sat and itunched him off of Lumen a couple of metres, only stopping when a tree took the brunt of his speed and even cracked a little at the impact.


    Lumen was also shocked at such damage as he looked the most recent notification on his system that portrayed to him just how much damage he had dealt.


    <strong>[3200 Damage dealt!]</strong>


    This number shocked him quite a lot as his normal attacks with his spear only did a little over 200 and even if he hit a vital spot like he did with the leader earlier would it deal damage in the thousands but it still didn''t reach the level of damage dealt from this one mana bolt.


    He looked over at the man and he seemed to be on the brink of death as his breathing was ragged and arge crater with scorch marks everywhere could be seen in his chest where the spell had hit.


    He didn''t give the other five enemies a chance to save him and threw his spear at the man, ending his life there and then.


    Not wanting to lose any of his momentum and adrenaline, he immediately darted in the direction where his team mates were fighting the other five enemies.

 Chapter 21: Reality

    <h4>Chapter 21: Reality</h4>


    Lumen maintained his momentum and immediately diverted his attention to the other five assants currently locked in stalemate with his four teammates. It seemed that none of these four possessed any kind of special talent like their leader and the axe warrior did, so Jake was able to hold back two of them by himself while the other three kept the others upied.


    Upon seeing Lumen charging in their direction, the structured order of the enemies quickly dwindled as their two leaders had been in. Some wanted to flee for their lives, others wanted to stay and fight to avenge their leader, perhaps they held some sort of attachment to him from before the tutorial.


    None of this mattered to Lumen though as he charged at the nearest archer to him, this time not conjuring a mana bolt but instead using the otherbat rted magic skill he had received, Mana Reinforcement.


    As he applied this to his spear, a faint blue light surrounded the exterior of the basic spear as it''s boring wooden handle and scratched iron and blood tip had gained a new sense of beauty.


    He neared the archer from behind him, taking some pressure off Jake as he now only had to focus on one enemy. The archer bore his teeth at Lumen as he seemed to be one of the ones who wanted to stay and fight.


    Unfortunately for him, after experiencing the previous two fights, Lumen wasn''t in the mood for any drawn out fights and especially wasn''t interested in any sneak attacks the archer might pull.


    He had experienced enough of those already this one night.


    In a swift, fluid motion, Lumen swayed his body gently as the arrow fired from the enemy archer missed his abdomen by inches. Not slowing down one bit, the distance now closed in to a measly 10 metres as the archer had gained a look of fear and nervousness on his face with the impending doom called Lumen approaching.


    With his glowing spear in hand, Lumenunched himself at the archer, immediately closing the 10 metre gap in an instant. The archer dropped his bow to reach for his dagger but Lumen didn''t give him the chance to, as he used his glowing spear to mislead the enemy andunched a full sprint kick at the man''s head. He didn''t see this attacking as his mind was full of the ways he could try to block the spear, but not a single thought considered he wouldn''t even use it.


    This kick disoriented the archer and caused him to stumble backwards, toppling over to the ground. Before he could recollect himself, Lumen came over him and lifted his spear, stabbing it down straight through the man''s eye socket and into the skull of the defenceless archer, killing him instantly.


    Panic settled in the other four enemies as they were now outnumbered by a clearly more powerful enemy, and in their feeble attempts to fleeunched their all into Lumen''s four team mates in an attempt to gain an opening to flee.


    Unfortunately for them, Lumen would not give them that chance.


    He approached the other archer, who had used up all of his arrows and was currently busy trying to flee from Shivi and his onught of arrows.


    Lumen targeted this poor, now defenceless fellow andunched his spear right out of his hands into the back of the man, causing him to lose his bnce and fall to the ground in a cry of pain.


    Lumen approached him at speed and immediately pulled his spear out of the man''s back, causing the man to turn over onto his back, their eyes meeting in the middle.


    The attacking archer was clearly flustered and fear was stered all over his face; his eyes welling up with tears as he regretted every decision that got him into this situation. The terrible blood covered monster in front of him was all that upied his mind as his brain raced, looking for a way to get him out of this situation.


    "Please.... *cough* spare me, please....."


    The man coughed and groaned in pain as he churned the pleading words out of his mouth but Lumen was numb to them as he emotionlessly nted his spear through his face, stopping any more attempts at pleading permanently.


    The others, Jake, Shivi, Will, Qu Quan, were all still feeling conflicted emotions at his killings as they struggled toe to grips with their new reality.


    However after witnessing Lumen ughter four of the enemies, not even knowing the fifth one he killed before the ambush, they seemed to have pushed their emotions to the side and let their instincts take over as they teamed up 4 against 3 against thest three remaining light warriors.


    They stood no chance against Jake with his domineering strength talent, nor against the barrage of arrows from Qu Quan and Shivi. Their attacks that connected meant little as they would quickly receive a heal from Will who stood at the back, guzzling down mana potions to keep up with the excessive cost of casting heal.


    Lumen didn''t have to do anything as by the time he had arrived, the three remaining enemies were dead andy there motionlessly as the group of four looked at them with unsettling looks on their faces, now facing the reality that they had just killed someone, another human being who had a family of their own, for the first time.


    Their adrenaline was starting to wear off after the fight ended and this only allowed for a more intense barrage of emotions as Qu Quan even went off to the side, face looking green as the contents of her stomach were emptied.


    Lumen wasn''t immune to this emotion either, as he also felt conflicting feelings at the reality of what he had just done.


    However he seemed to harden his resolve as he turned to face the others.


    "This is the new reality we have been thrown into. Who knows how many of us has been affected by this, maybe only a few thousand, or maybe even the entire human race. However what I do know is that thews of Earth no longer apply here.... There is no more right or wrong. No more ''justice'' to protect. Only survival. The strong survive and prey on the weak, this is thew of the jungle and this now applies to us."


    "Do not feel bad for these men, they attacked us for reasons unknown. But the reason doesn''t matter to us, only the fact that they attacked us and intended to take our lives matters."


    "This is the new reality we have to face, whether we can stomach it or not."

 Chapter 22: Second day of the tutorial

    <h4>Chapter 22: Second day of the tutorial</h4>


    The group listened to Lumen''s words seriously before all sumbing to their exhaustion and finally getting some rest in their tents. They didn''t even have the energy to put someone on watch duty as they were all too tired to sit there and keep a look out for hours on end after what had just happened.


    At most, they hoped that the 8 dead bodies littered around the camp would be enough to deter any other people or beasts who took a curiosity in approaching their camp.


    They group didn''t even have any energy left in them to check their system messages after the ughter fest ended, as there were quite a lot of them as they woulde to realise the next morning.


    Lumen was especially too tired to deal with all of that at the moment as all he wanted after everything that happened was to get some much needed rest. He had put in the most effort after all and expended the most energy, both mana and stamina and so nobody questioned when he was the first to enter his survival tent that he had ''found'' and immediately entered a deep sleep.


    The next day, the second day of the tutorial.


    The sun came ring through the trees as the group slowly awakened to the tweets of birds and the rustling of the bushes and leaves in the wind.


    If this weren''t a life and death tutorial, this ce would be a dream spot for camping enthusiasts.


    The group slowly awakened from their sleep, with the wind being the most contributing factor to their early awakening as the leaves that made up their makeshift tents were rustling the loudest.


    Very soon, everyone was up and awake, with each one of them taking nces at the scene that had been caused all around their camp the night before.


    Lumen was the only one who actively looked at the bodies that had slowly begun to dpose from the inside out, the smell being the most obvious evidence of that fact.


    Just like the night before, Qu Quan once again fell victim to the calling of nature and keeled over to a side and once again the contents of her stomach was emptied again.


    Whether it was from the stench from the bodies or from the fact that she had contributed to putting these bodies in this situation, only she knew.


    The whole group soon joined Lumen in looking at each body, memorising their final expressions as they would likely be etched into their minds indefinitely from this point onward if they failed to adapt to this new reality of theirs.


    Lumen took a few steps forward, to the body of the leader as he started feeling the body, looking for anything in the pockets and inspecting the equipment they wore.


    "What are you doing Lumen?" Will was the first to speak as he enquired Lumen, both confused and disturbed at what he was doing.


    "Looking for anything valuable we should keep. Anything that can help us and increase our chances of survival is what I''m looking for. I''m checking their equipment as well, maybe they hade across some upgrades on their journey over to us."


    What Lumen said made sense but the others didn''t join him as the idea of looting bodies just felt wrong, and the smell of them as well was the final nail in the coffin stopping them from going near them.


    <i>''I wonder if I can somehow ess their inventories.... It would be such a shame if all of those useful potions and whatever else they had stored would be lost forever when they die....''</i>


    Lumen led his thoughts along obtaining the most benefits from these ambushers as possible and sure enough, when he though about their inventories, he received a system prompt.


    <strong>[Unlooted dead body found, do you wish to inspect it''s inventory?]</strong>


    Lumen was pleasantly surprised at this system prompt as he didn''t expect that he could actually ess their inventory after they had died, the prompt also reminded him of the fact that he had a lot of notifications to check out once he was finished with the body.


    He without hesitation said yes and soon, a panel of items showed up in front of him.


    <strong>[Mana potion x6]</strong>


    <strong>[Health potion x5]</strong>


    <strong>[Unidentified beast carcass x2]</strong>


    <strong>[Basic Sword]</strong>


    <strong>[Basic Armour]</strong>


    The list was short but sweet as he swiped all of the items up, transferring them straight to his inventory.


    It seemed that this ragtag group of fiends had not only just attacked them, as just this leader alone had more than the default number of potions given by the tutorial. Presumably he had done the same as Lumen was doing to him now and looted everything he found.


    As he saw no more use from the body, he picked it up and walked a few dozen metres into the forest and threw the body against a tree, left to either rot or act as food for some random beast.


    He now made sure to check his system messages, and when he did he was very pleased.


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 2 F tier human.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 150 experience.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 30 credits]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! You have levelled up!</strong>


    <strong>Received 3 stat points in every stat, 5 unallocated stat points.]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 6 F tier human.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 1000 experience.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 200 credits]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! You have levelled up!</strong>


    <strong>Received 3 stat points in every stat, 5 unallocated stat points.]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 5 F tier human.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 750 experience.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 150 credits]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! You have levelled up!</strong>


    <strong>Received 3 stat points in every stat, 5 unallocated stat points.]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 3 F tier human.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 250 experience.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 50 credits]</strong>


    The notifications ended there as he revelled in the feeling of levelling up three times in such a short timespan.


    He must have been too doped on adrenalinest night to notice his significant overall increase in his stats as he had received 9 total stat points in every stat, along with 15 unallocated stats.


    His proficiency in each of his skills other than heal and identify had also seen major improvements.

 Chapter 23: Change of plans

    <h4>Chapter 23: Change of ns</h4>


    Lumen''s proficiency in his skill had seen a great increase from his battle against other humans thanpared to fighting those two beasts before.


    First of all, his proficiency in his spear mastery had gone from 6% all the way up to 27.5%, a stark increase of 21.5%!


    His footwork had taken even more of an increase, with it sitting currently at 33%, up from the previous 5%. Clearly battle against humans provided more proficiency in skills, which Lumen could guess the reason was that they were sentient like him, unlike the mindless beasts and so they would require more strategy and skill to beat.


    However what he was most excited to see was his proficiency in his magic skills!


    <strong>[Mana Bolt (Lv.1 12%) (Common)]</strong>


    <strong>[Mana Reinforcement (Lv.1 9%)]</strong>


    The percentages weren''t very highpared to that of his other warrior skills but considering how little he had used them it could be seen as even more of an increasepared to the others in the ratio of time using skill to proficiency gained.


    He had only used his mana bolt twice while he used the mana reinforcement once since he had received them from the system, which is little inparison to the amount of times he used his footwork and spear mastery skill, especially considering these are passive skills and so theoretically his proficiency would slowly be increasing even while walking or holding his spear. The increase would be miniscule though.


    Lumen had finished inspecting his status and went to the rest of the dead bodies to loot whatever they had in their inventories. Unfortunately other than the leader, the others only had a few health and mana potions each, with the axe warrior having a little more. In total from the 8 bodies he had gained another 16 health potions and 23 mana potions.


    It was clear that these people had used some potions here and there but not many mana potions as they were clearly all physicalbat focused sses.


    When he finished throwing all of the dead bodies to the forest, he walked back to the others to have a talk about what they would be doing moving forward.


    It seemed they had the same thoughts as they approached him first with Will being the one to speak.


    "What do you suggest we do now?" Will stepped up and asked. The tone in his voice being genuine and not angry or resentful for what Lumen had done. At first he had somewhat appointed himself the leader of the group but at some point after each battle he started asking Lumen more and more for advice and guidance for their situation. The others had also followed his lead and now it seemed the title of leader belonged to Lumen.


    "I suggest we do everything we can to level up and survive this f*cked up tutorial. It''s understandable if you don''t wish to fight other people, but you at least need the skill to defend yourself when theye looking for a fight with you. If you can''t tell what I''m getting at here, its to hunt beasts. We can''t stay here at this small makeshift camp wallowing away for 2 months while other people spend their time gaining experience, umting power and levelling up." Lumen finished but added one more thing afterwards.


    "We do what the system wants us to do, that is the best chance we have to survive until the end of this shit."


    Qu Quan seemed to have been going through many emotions over the past two days but at this moment, she seemed to have suppressed those as she bit her lip and spoke.


    "I agree with Lumen!" She chimed in.


    "He''s right, this ce is clearly meant to test us, otherwise why would it be called a ''tutorial''. If this is the tutorial, then whates after? Clearly this is only the beginning. We need to learn to fend for ourselves. What if Lumen wasn''t here to take care of those two most powerful enemies earlier? We would all be finished already, I would have probably suffered a fate worse than death..." She shivered as she finished her speech.


    Clearly she didn''t even want to imagine what would have happened to her if not for Lumen.


    Lumen hoped this experience had been a wake up call for them, as it had for sure been one for him.


    He had been sent into another universe, to an Earth identical to that of his previous one millions of years prior, and yet before he could even enjoy his freedom he had been thrown into this.


    He already knew it but his infinite lifespan meant nothing if he fell inbat. His body may not age, but it was nothing near true immortality.


    Lumen gave the others space to think as he excused himself to pack up his things, putting everything he deemed valuable into his inventory. Once he was done, he turned to the group once more and spoke.


    "The day has just begun, but we have a lot of work to do if we don''t want to end up like these guys." He finished as he pointed at the 8 dead bodies in the distant forest.


    "Pack up your things and get ready to leave. We will spend this day learning how to fight properly like a team, to make the best use out of our abilities. We should aim to get everyone to level 4 at the least before the sun sets."


    His n for now was to spend their second day in the tutorial constantly hunting beasts. His main goal being to upgrade the power of their group as a whole as clearly the ambushst night had only been won because of his power alone. He needed to bring the others up to a level where they could fend for themselves.


    "We will try our best to interact with other people as little as possible for now. In this ce, anybody could be an enemy so its not worth trying to make friends yet, lest we end up with a sword in our backs when we sleep."


    During this entire time, not once did anybody care to ask Lumen about his ss. They knew he clearly had some special ss in order to be able to have abilities from two different sses, but after seeing the ughter he had performed the previous night as well as the fact he had saved all of their lives, they didn''t bother asking him unless he mentioned it to them himself.


    Lumen finished discussing his ns with the others as they packed up everything they needed and once ready, set off in a random direction in search of beasts to hunt.

 Chapter 24: Hunting

    <h4>Chapter 24: Hunting</h4>


    Lumen and the group set out after they had packed up all of their things. The inventory was really a lifesaver as without it they would never be able to carry so many things.


    Their current location waspromised and although the small pond could be used to attract any beasts in the vicinity, the efficiency of that was too low as it could take days before another one showed up.


    They preferred to go looking for beasts to hunt themselves. Their initial n of finding a water and food source to camp and all of that other survivalist crap was a big waste of time as clearly from looking at the levels of the group that attacked themst night, they were all several levels behind the top groups right now.


    Lumen wasn''t as bad as the others but he was still not near the Leader and axe warrior of the group who were level 6 and level 5 respectively.


    They still needed food and water but they needed levels far more in this situation. Food and water could be found by killing beasts, with plentiful amounts of meat being avable to them with the few carcasses Lumen had found in the ambusher''s inventories. Plus he still had his month supply of water and food, but split between a group of 5 people this would onlyst a little under a week.


    If they really failed to find water after they had run out of their stocks, five of them had resolved themselves to drinking the blood of the beasts they y.


    They didn''t like this very much and hoped it wouldn''te to that but they had to do what they could to survive and gain as many levels as possible.


    It took little time before the group came across another group of beasts, this one being significantlyrger than the rodent duo they had in before. This time it was a group of deer like creatures, with there being 6 of them in total. Qu Quan was the first to use identify on them again as she had found them to be between level 3 and 5, with the leader of the pack being level 6.


    At first the group was reluctant to attack as they were outnumbered but they quickly remembered their resolve and situation and realised they had no choice but to attack if they wanted to survive this tutorial with certainty.


    Lumen decided to interfere with the fight as little as possible as the purpose of this second day of the tutorial was not only to gain experience in terms of levels, but to also gain experience in terms of proficiency fighting as a team.


    They had 2 archers, 1 mage and 1 Heavy warrior who would be putting up the most fight. Lumen would be at the side to intervene whenever he noticed someone was in a situation that threatened their or the group''s lives.


    He would mostly be helping Jake as he was the only other warrior of the group and so he would be the only one fighting the group of six in close range.


    Qu Quan and Shivi would fire off some arrows from a distance towards the group in order to deal plenty of damage before the fight even properly begun.


    Lumen had distributed the potions he had looted the day before, giving each person an extra 3 mana and health potions each, giving a few extra mana potions to Will as his mana pool was still low and so he needed to constantly refill it in order to fire off mana bolts and heal throughout the fight.


    The fight went as Lumen had predicted. The antelope like creatures immediately entered attack mode when the group approached, it seemed this was amon theme with all beasts in this tutorial. Jake was able to tank the level 6 deer and another level 5 deer quite easily thanks to his talent which left the other 3 took another 3 deer each. Luckily for them thest deer beast had been killed in the initial barrage of arrows as one arrow had managed to prate its eye directly and reached far into it''s brain.


    It seemed Shivi had received the credit for that kill as he stood there with a joyful look on his face and eximed, "I levelled up!"


    Qu Quan was able to kill her dear quite easily as the level 4 beast fell to the ground after a minute of attacking, as the final blow was dealt with her dagger to it''s skull when it came too close to her. Her style was still quite timid as she preferred to stick to a distance and fight from safety, but she was left with no choice but to use her dagger when it charged right at her. She may be timid in her style but she didn''tck the confidence or resolve to win; very much needed in a survival scenario like this.


    Immediately after the deer fell to the ground, she too received a notification about levelling up, along with the credits from the kill.


    Shivi took a little longer with his deer as it was level 5, but in the end it made the same mistake as the beast that Qu Quan had taken out and charged directly at him and met its end when Shivi unhesitatingly took out his dagger and shed at it''s neck with a swift dodge to move out of the way of it''s charge. He gained another 2 levels from this kill.


    Jake had long taken care of the level 6 and level 5 deer, gaining 3 levels in one go.


    In Lumen''s honest opinion, Will was the worstbatant of their group as of right now due to his simple skillset only containing 1 attack spell and 1 support spell, and with his low mana pool he found it difficult to keep up with the other''s efficiency.


    But although he took the longest, he managed to get the job done and took down the level 4 beast after a few mana bolts hit it''s vital spots over time.


    In the end, the group had gained a lot from this fight as Shivi and Jake had managed to reach level 3, with Qu Quan managing to reach level 3 with the addition of the small amount of experience she earned for contributing to the fight against the ambushers. And finally, Will reached level 2.


    The fight was quite fruitful as it seemed the group may even be able to exceed their goal of getting each member to level 4 if they managed to find another group of beasts like this one.

 Chapter 25: Improvements all around

    <h4>Chapter 25: Improvements all around</h4>


    The hunting ordeal only took a little under 10 minutes, with thest 5 minutes being added by Will who needed a longer time to umte mana and kill his deer beast.


    Lumen did not get any credits or experience for the kills as he hadn''t needed to participate once in the whole fight, which was good progress for the group as if this was the day before, he would have needed to intervene at multiple points.


    He seemed to take notice of everyone''s strong points, as well as their weak points as he made a quick analysis of each person''s fight due to his advanced mental capabilities thanks to him previously being an AI for millions of years and all...


    The archers did very well considering Shivi said he was only a hobby archer back on Earth and so nowhere near as good as those professionals, and Qu Quan took her bow skills to another level with the addition of her hawk eyes talent. Lumen could only give them a thumbs up for their performance as they could be considered the most improved out of the group.


    Jake was also very good but had a few ws here and there that put him a notch below Qu Quan and Shivi as he let the deer beasts he was holding down get a hit in on his armour a few times too many, taking away a little over a quarter of his health before he took the two of them down.


    However Lumen didn''t take fault with him about it due to the fact that he was the only warrior participating in the fight. If Lumen were to participate himself, Jake wouldn''t have sustained any injuries whatsoever.


    Will had many obvious ws but those were to no fault of his own, as they all stemmed from his limited mana capacity and limited spell usage.


    Lumen had already advised him to put all of his unallocated stats into intelligence to build his mana pool up. He could do nothing about hisck of spells for now but the group had a hunch that more skills would be granted to them if they levelled up enough.


    Without stalling anymore, they continued their excursion through the forest and ran into another group of beasts a few hourster, this one beingrger than the deer beasts at 9 total beasts but the highest level beast they found among them was only level 3, with the rest being level 2.


    None of them had any struggles in killing this group of beasts as only Will had gained another level, reaching the same level as the others and once more increasing his mana pool, able to cast three mana bolts before his mana ran out. This was a big improvement from the day before when he could only cast one.


    However when the group ran into a lone beast that stood at a big gap from them at level 9, they put their newfound prowess to the test as even Lumen had to join this fight as he wasn''t confident he could take this on himself either.


    After a drawn out battle, the had managed to take the beast down and provided Jake and Qu Quan a level up to level 4, with the others all being close to a level up as well.


    Lumen was now only less than a hundred experience off level 5.


    They did sustain some injuries however, as Jake had taken a nasty bite from the bear like beast on his arm and for the first time one of them had to drink a healing potion. To their surprise, the injury went away in less than 10 seconds as Jake eximed that his Health which was half of his max capacity of 4500 had instantly filled up back to max.


    There was no indication to how much HP it healed in it''s description but from this, they knew it healed at least 2000 HP!


    This was vastly better than Will and Lumen''s heal spell as that could only heal a little over 200 per cast, meaning they''d need to perform the spell nearly 10 times for the same effect!


    However upon using the potion, Jake seemed to gain an instinctive feeling that should he use another healing potion a short time after his first consumption, he would see no effect from it.


    The group wanted to test this but didn''t want to waste their limited resources and so could only take his word for it for now.


    Any minor injuries anyone received from the fight with the level 9 beast were healed by Will and even Lumen, as he had revealed his ability to heal as well now since the group already knew he had magic abilities too.


    The group weren''t too surprised at this revtion but were rather happy to find out that they had another healer, bringing their chances of survival up even more.


    After this tough fight with the bear like level 9 beast, everyone was tired and exhausted from the constant fighting all day, and with the sun setting the group decided to stop their hunt for now and find somewhere to set up camp for the night before they set out again the next day to do the same thing.


    Soon they found a small clearing with a clear view of the starry sky above through the rare opening in the trees above them.


    They decided to make camp here as it would be easy to spot any enemies if they approached due to theck of bushes or think shrubbery around.


    The trees were also too far away for any potential archers to get an urate shot on the group so they deemed it good enough to camp the night here. They set up a campfire in the open and started roasting some deer beasts over it that they had killed earlier that day.


    With the addition of the bottled water that Lumen revealed to them using the excuse that he looted it from the enemy leader, they were set for at least 2 weeks in terms of food and all they had to do was make sure they had a constant water source.

 Chapter 26: Encounter

    <h4>Chapter 26: Encounter</h4>


    The group camped out in the clearing for the night, with Lumen offering to be the lookout for the whole night. Everyone wanted to offer to do some night watch as well but Lumen ignored all of their offers andints and insisted that he was the one to look out for any enemies.


    They relented after a short moment of persuasion by Lumen, who simply said that none of them could do a better job of looking out than him. Remembering the night prior, the others couldn''t help but swallow their words and agree, giving in to his demands and entering a deep slumber in each of their own makeshift shelters.


    This night turned out to be an uneventful nightpared to the previous night, with nothing but wind and the rustling of the grass and distant trees being the only disturbance. When the morning sun finally came, Lumen left his lookout position as he came to the others to help pack up and depart. When he saw their faces and the eye bags they had, he doubted any of them had gotten any good sleep at all.


    It seemed the previous night had still taken a toll on them.


    They had soon left their makeshift camp in the clearing as they ventured out into the vast wilderness all around them once more.


    However their hunting trip was cut short not even 30 minutes into their trek as their peaceful walk was interrupted when Qu Quan halted the group and signalled in a certain direction to their three o''clock direction.


    The group immediately stopped and focused their eyes and ears towards the disturbance Qu Quan had pointed out.


    Sure enough, when silence ensued Lumen and the rest of the group could hear some faint noises that sounded like metal scraping against metal, much like the sound Jake''s armour makes when he walks.


    Lumen recognised the potential threat and signalled the others to be on guard as he positioned his spear into a position most optimal for him tounch a quick offensive if they were attacked.


    Soon, the sounds came closer to the five of them as the source of the sound was now in sight, revealing itself to be arge stocky and built man wearing heavy armour just like that of Jake.


    Out of the bushes and tree line walked the heavy warrior and arge group of people following him, at least 10 present or maybe even more at first nce. They were mainly warriors of either the light or heavy variant, with the odd caster and archer dotted about.


    Lumen was about to initiate a conversation with the new visitors when a hand was ced on his shoulder. He looked at the hand and the source of the person who ced it there, Will had put his hand on his shoulder and when Lumen turned to look at him, he nodded his head at him.


    He signalled to Lumen that he should do the negotiating with this new and unexpected group of people, as although Lumen may be the uncontested strongest of their group, it was undeniable that Will had more charisma and people skills and so he took the lead in this situation.


    Lumen was happy to oblige as he would rather focus his full attention on preparing forbat, if ites to that.


    The first one to speak was not Will, but the stocky warrior opposite them who seemed to be the leader of the other,rger group.


    "Hey there, we mean no harm! I swear! My name is Michael," He said in a friendly tone and seemed sincere in his approach as he put down hisrge two handed sword and kept his hands in the air throughout the conversation. "We heard some noise and saw some smoke from a clearing a couple kilometres in the direction you came from, we decided toe and investigate and see if we could locate anymore people. There is no need to worry, we have no intention of fighting."


    Therge man kept up his friendly and sincere tone as Will also introduced himself.


    "A friendly face atst! My name is Will and these are my friends andpanions in this barbaric tutorial, we were on the same floating tform from the beginning." Will had a blooming smile on his face as he stepped forward, ahead of his group. "May I know why you have decided toe and investigate us? We have no desire for unnecessary conflicts either. We have already seen enough of the vile side of humanity, we do not wish for more."


    Therge man raised an eyebrow when Will said hisst sentence, clearly he knew the meaning behind his words as he didn''t enquire any further into it.


    "It''s good to know we are on the same page, after all humans should work together in a ce like this if we want to survive!" The man answered with quite an exaggeratedugh, like that of some rich people back on Earth.


    However his humorousugh died down and turned more serious. "We were all like you, separated into groups of five when we first entered this ''tutorial'', over thest 2 days mine and another two groups managed to group up in order to better survive this ce, unfortunately even with this amount of people we still lost 2 of our own in a battle with a terrifyingly powerful beast."


    The tone soon turned solemn and depressing as he discussed the death of two of hisrades, but the man took a few seconds before he brightened up again.


    "Of course, we don''t n on just stopping at this small amount of 13 people. We n on gathering as many people as we can in order to establish some sort of order in this chaotic tutorial. Not everyone wants to spend their time here risking their lives every day fighting beasts far more powerful than them. We would love for you and your people to join us."


    Lumen was listening quietly from the side lines and the moment the words ''join us'' came out of the man''s mouth he caught onto what the man was nning. It wasmon sense that there was only one leader in the man''s group, even after assimting the other two groups. Michael may have worded it as a team up of sorts, but it was clear that he was just increasing the forces he wished to control.


    Will listened to the man''s exnations as he nodded with an admirable look on his face towards the man.


    "How noble of you! I agree that we humans should stick together as much as we can in this type of situation. But how do I know to trust you? For all I know you could just be lying to us or misleading us with these flowery words of yours." Will kept up his amicable smile as he responded to Michael, and continued. "How about this, I will go back and discuss with our leader on this before wee to any big decisions."


    Will turned around to his group and walked towards Lumen after saying this, but he didn''t manage to notice the smile slowly turning into a frown on the man''s face when he realised he wasn''t even talking to the leader of Will''s group yet.

 Chapter 27: Tension

    <h4>Chapter 27: Tension</h4>


    The big burly man named Michael stood there waiting for Will toe back, only showing the frown on his face for a moment before it returned back to it''s usual ''kind'' smile.


    Will may not have noticed the sudden change in expression on the man, but Lumen was in constant alert mode and so didn''t miss Michael''s reactions to Will''s words. It seemed he was the only one of his group who had noticed it as well as everyone else had their eyes trained on the members of Michael''s group behind him.


    Lumen was certain that all this big humanistic talk that Michael was spewing was all for show and his actions would be different the moment they were assimted into the group.


    He didn''t believe that anyone would have such selfless motives at this point in the tutorial as if anyone had a brain, they would have realised that this ''tutorial'' was just the beginning, hence it''s name.


    It was clear that they would not be returning to their normal and mundane lives in society when this tutorial ends, but they also didn''t know what was awaiting them after the end.


    Perhaps it was more life and death survival, perhaps it was something else. Nobody would know until it happens.


    The only reliable thing the members of the tutorial could go off was the fact that there was a level system to calcte each person''s individual power. Not to mention the ominous ''Soul Tier'' option in everyone''s status'' that hadn''t changed once after multiple level ups. Clearly there was more to this power system than meets the eye.


    Hence this was the reason why Lumen didn''t trust Michael''s words at all. He must have something to gain in terms of personal power by increasing the number of members he has in his team.


    Soon, will came over to him and started speaking in a low tone.


    "What do you think, Lumen? Should we trust these guys and join them? If I''m totally honest I am getting off vibes from this Michael fe, he is too kind for someone in a survival situation like us..." Will had wisely pointed out some ws from Michael''s persona as well as he quietly discussed them with Lumen, the other three behind him also silently listening in.


    However Lumen didn''t reply, as Qu Quan and Shivi were the first people to initiate a conversation of sorts with Will and Lumen, although not in the usual way of talking.


    The two of them quietly fished out a stick and some beast blood from their inventories as they wrote a couple words on one of their old clothes before their ss awakening.


    <i>''THEY LISTEN, SUSPICIOUS...''</i>


    The five members of Lumen''s group made sure not to make any obvious changes in expression as they read the words written on the old cloth, doing their best to hide their methods ofmunication from Michael and his group as they pretended to wait apprehensively while Lumen ''thought'' about his answer to Will''s questions.


    After a short 10 seconds Lumen suddenly spoke, "While I think joining a bigger group would be beneficial for our survival, we are doing just fine by ourselves and it would be much more difficult to level as fast as we are now if we have to split the experience earned with even more people."


    After he said this to William, he turned to the tall and stocky Michael and spoke.


    "Hence, unfortunately we will have to decline your kind offer. We very much appreciate the opportunity to join forces, but we are fine by ourselves."


    Michael''s kind smile didn''t falter this time as he had expected this answer from the moment Will revealed he wasn''t the leader of their small group.


    But at this point he stopped focusing on Lumen and the others as he spoke directly to Will once again. "You seem like a fine young man, you must be a mage, right? We would very much like to wee you within our ranks, as you can see we only have 1 other mage ourselves so it is hard to tend to everyone''s injuries with just 1 heal spell, especially with it''s high mana cost."


    Will looked a little shocked and confused as now Michael had clearly given up on inviting the others and instead had asked him directly to join his group.


    He tried to conjure up some words but he didn''t get the chance before Michael gave a nce to the others and spoke once again.


    "I''m sure you made some connections with your colleagues over thest couple of days, right? They coulde with us as well, if they like. But you must join us, you know the saying ''there is safety in numbers'', right? With your status as a mage I can personally guarantee you will get the highest treatment and safety in our ranks, not to mention the opportunity to gain many levels. You must join us."


    Michael seemed to put on a persuasive tone at first, but this wouldn''t work on Will so easily as he was also one who took pride in his charisma and wouldn''t fall for such easy persuasion, he was the one usually dishing it out after all. But once Michael noticed that it wasn''t working, his tone slowly changed to a somewhat sombre and almost demanding tone.


    Even Lumen with hisck of skills interacting with human society could read the obvious undertone in Michael''s words.


    The mood of everyone present had shifted, be it Lumen, Will or Michael as his kind smile had disappeared at some point. Lumen pushed his brain to 110% ability in order to analyse the best way to deal with this situation. But he couldn''te to any definitive conclusions as every solution depended on how the man in front of them would react in theing moments.


    Will was also looking sombre and a little bit nervous as they were outnumbered nearly 3 to 1 so if they were attacked, there was little chance of theming out on top, even considering Lumen''s skills.


    But in the midst of the silence, Michael continued speaking.


    "So what will your answer be young man? Will you join us?" He continued, this time in a calm almost storytelling tone.


    "You should know, this ce is unforgiving. We had two mages in total at first, but unfortunately one of them died in battle. We are running low on health potions, our only mage''s mana capacity isn''t nearly enough to sustain everyone''s injuries. As you can see, I am very serious when I say you will be treated fairly and well."


    Will was about to respond when the man uttered a final sentence.


    "We need you far more than they need you."

 Chapter 28: Conflict of interest

    <h4>Chapter 28: Conflict of interest</h4>


    The atmosphere was very tense between the two groups, onergely outnumbering the other.


    Will seemed to be in a dilemma here, he did not look at all like his previous confident self and he did not look at all like he wanted to respond positively to Michael''s ''invitation''.


    One the one hand, if he joined he would be in a much safer environment but he would also lose the trust of his team mates as they would most probably feel betrayed. He had developed a sort of bond through shared experience with the four of them over thest few days and he really liked them as friends andrades in this hell.


    On the other hand, if he did reject the offer, he was afraid of the consequences of turning down the offer. As at this point it was more of a demand than an offer, which he could tell from Michael''s change of words from ''join us'' to ''must join us''. Not to mention there was no guarantee that everything Michael promised him would be delivered to him, after all he is already treated very well by his current team mates. He would rather have a little bit of reduced safety in ce of reduced freedom if he joined Michael.


    Lumen could see that Will was clearly stressed and his mind running through all the possibilities at the moment, so he made the decision to answer for him.


    "No, he will not be joining you. You speak flowery words about his treatment in your group but you hide the fact that his freedom will be taken away. You said it yourself, you ''need him'' but he doesn''t need you. If you were smart you would make sure that he doesn''t leave you."


    Lumen''s words had dropped a bombshell for both Will and Michael. He had clearly perceived Michael''s intentions and the facts were obvious as his own mage''s face grimaced a little when the mention of restricted freedom came up.


    It was clear that his words wereced with lies in order to entice Will into their camp.


    Lumen and Michael seemed to be done talking as they both retreated to their own teams.


    The question now was just what to do....


    Lumen andpany could try and run, but they were outnumbered and the only direction they could go was backwards, all other directions covered by Michael''s group. He also had a feeling that the average level of the other group was above his own, as they had likely spent their first day hunting beasts rather than sitting idly like Lumen and the others.


    He had attempted to use identify on Michael upon their first interaction, but for reasons unknown it didn''t work on him.


    He suspected his Basic Identify skill was too low of a level to identify Humans as he had attempted it on every other member of Michael''s group and received the same result, making the possibility of it being due to some sort of level disparity or skill minimal.


    Michael had also mentioned that they had run low on health potions, which suggested they had done a lot of fighting, enough to use up 15 people''s worth of potions. Hence fighting was off the table as his ownrades were still inexperienced and reluctant to kill other Humans.


    Other than fight and run, they could also join them. Lumen and co did not like that option at all, the overall vibes from the group of 13 was bad, as if they hadmitted many acts that would be considered serious crimes back on Earth.


    He had no doubt that nothing would happen to Will as he was too important to Michael to hurt or kill, but for the rest of them? The situation didn''t look good.


    The third option Will most certainly wouldn''t like, as it would be to hand him over to Michael and go their separate ways. Michael would most likely let the others go as Humans are far more dangerous to hunt than beasts and they would likely lose a few members of their own, which Michael certainly wanted to avoid considering how much he talked of ''strength in numbers''.


    Lumen wouldn''t even consider this option though as it would sow discord between the members of their group and cracks would appear in their friendship, as well as end up with the same issue as Michael. Lumen himself could heal but the mana needed for that was too high for him to maintain meaning he wouldn''t have enough to use his other, much more useful offensive magic skills.


    Lumen looked at each of hisrades and friends as they gave each other a look, nodding their heads with determination on their faces as they hade to a consensus without the need tomunicate with each other.


    With no previous indication, the five of them started running to their maximum potential in the opposite direction of Michael''s group without looking back as they wished to make it as far away from them before they came to a stop and discuss any further moves.


    However when Qu Quan looked back, she noticed movements with her talent and made them out to be the movements of archers just like her and Shivi. Three in total as she hurriedly informed the others of the pursuers and warned of keeping an eye out for any iing arrows.


    Just as she said so, everyone heard the whizzing of an arrow fly by and rebound off of Jake''s armour, leaving a dent in it and likely a bruise on Jake as the group put 110% into their sprint, not caring anymore about saving energy for a long sprint.


    Jake, as the biggest and heaviest was the slowest of them and was slowly trailing behind.


    The others noticed this and internally knew that at this rate they would run out of stamina before they could out run the pursuers, especially considering they were archers with high endurance and agility stats.


    Suddenly, the group came to an immediate halt as they turned around and gathered behind Jake and faced the iing attackers.


    Qu Quan and Shivi took out their bows and knocked an arrow each as they aimed and fired in the direction of the enemy archers, neithernding a shot as both missed.


    Quickly the whizzing sound returned as more arrows came flying towards the group. Jake managed to deflect two of them as he roared and shouted with joy, taunting the enemies for not even being able to prate this thick, heavy iron armour.


    "HAHA, COME AT ME YOU BASTARDS!"


    But the others didn''t share his joy as silence ensued behind him and a gasp was heard from Qu Quan.

 Chapter 29: Grief and revenge

    <h4>Chapter 29: Grief and revenge</h4>


    Jake turned his head towards Qu Quan who was the source of the gasping sound.


    What he saw left him in as much shock as the others.


    Shivi stood there, looking around at Qu Quan, Jake and the others with a confused look on his face as if to say ''What''s all the fuss about??''


    However, before he could put the question into words, he fell to the ground motionless.


    Shivi''s bodyy there with an arrow embedded in his skull with the tip peaking out on the other side. His left eye being nothing more than a bloodied mass of flesh, nothing in resemnce to its previous self just moments before.


    He was as dead as dead could be.


    Jake, Will and Qu Quan were all in a deep shock as Lumen looked off into the distance at the archer who fired that shot.


    He bared his hatred towards this archer, but all of his hatred was bore towards Michael, the man who ordered the archer to undertake such a tragic killing.


    He couldn''t hesitate any longer as he shouted towards the others.


    "SAY YOUR GOODBYES OR PRAYERS RIGHT NOW, WE WILL JOIN HIM IF WE DON''T MOVE SOON!"


    His shout was a wake up call for the remaining four as sadness and tears could be seen forming under Qu Quan''s eyes she knew they had no choice but to leave Shivi''s body there and fight back if they wanted a chance to leave this situation alive.


    Sure enough, Qu Quan, Will and Jake no longer focused on the sadness of Shivi''s death and instead ced their attention with Lumen. Avenging Shivi was now their main concern.


    Without wasting any time, the group of five turned four now darted in the same direction with looks on their faces that could scare the devil.


    Nothing could stop their rapid march, not the trees, bushes, undergrowth. Nothing.


    The three archers made moves to separate into different directions as they knew that a direct confrontation with a well structured team would only lead to losses on their side.


    Lumen neared in to an archer''s position with speed surpassing that of even Qu Quan.


    Although he may not be an archer himself, his starting stats gave him quite the advantage against other normal humans and seeing as this was still only a little over two days into the tutorial, the gap in stats hadn''t quite been closed between Lumen and these ordinary level 6 archers.


    Very soon, he came within 3 metres of the archer as he was unable to match Lumen''s speed and instead chose to turn around and face him with his dagger.


    It was this archer who had fired the shot that killed Shivi.


    "Your first mistake is thinking you can do anything with that dagger."


    Lumen said as he lunged forwards with his spear towards the man''s wrist, prating his artery and knocking the dagger out of his hand.


    A wail of pain came from the archer''s mouth as Lumen continued speaking.


    "Your second mistake was thinking you were the hunter this whole time. Spoiler warning! You were not."


    His second strike with his spearnded on the man''s other wrist, spoiling any attempt he could make at summoning another dagger into his other hand with his inventory.


    "Your third mistake was following the orders of that man, Michael. Engrave that name into your brain as he is the reason this is happening to you."


    His spear struck again, this time meeting the man''s chest, narrowly missing his heart.


    The wails of pain were soon changed into gurgles as blood soon mixed with the air the man breathed.


    "Yourst mistake was killing my friend. This strike won''t miss."


    For thest and most horrifying time of the archer''s moments, Lumen struck his spear straight through the man''s skull, prating his left eye and poking out of the other side.


    His first act of revenge for Shivi had been enacted.


    He didn''t even spare another nce at the man''s body, not even looting his inventory as he focused his attention on the other two archers.


    One of them was struggling to keep a lead on Qu Quan, the gap in levels being too close for the man to gain any distance between them.


    However it seemed that she seemed to have some sort of fear tactic on the man as his face showed nothing but fear as he did his best to run back to Michael and his group.


    What Lumen didn''t know however was that the man wasn''t scared if Qu Quan. Instead he was scared of what would happen to him if Lumen caught him.


    Seeing that Qu Quan seemed to be holding the Fort down with that archer, Lumen turned to help Jake and will who were struggling to catch up to his opponent, the difference in speed between a heavy warrior/mage and an archer being too great.


    Lumen ran over alongside them in no time and ordered them.


    "Go and help Qu Quan deal with thest guy! I''ll deal with this one. Go, now!"


    They didn''t even stop for a second to think as they obeyed his words with noint and turned to Qu Quan''s direction, speeding off.


    Seeing Lumen now hot on his tail, the archer who Jake and Will had just been following looked horrified as he somehow increased his speed even more in an attempt to gain distance between them.


    Fortunately it seemed his attempt worked as the distance between them was widening, it was slow, but at least it was widening.


    9 metres...


    10 metres...


    11 metres...


    The distance kept getting wider as the archer''s shock soon turned into a smug smile when he turned to look back at Lumen behind him.


    However when he saw what was in Lumen''s other hand, his smile froze as confusion and soon after horror returned to his face.


    From behind, Lumen wouldn''t let this chance to kill this archer slip away and so he decided to use a hidden card only the dead and his team mates knew of.


    A mana bolt was forming in his left hand as it fully turned into a condensed ball of mana in no time and not wanting to be toote with his attack, he shot it at the archer.


    Thankfully, he was still just barely within range of the skill at 14 metres away as the bolt struck the back of the man''s head, sttering it like a watermelon instantly.


    He didn''t even spare a nce at the body as he knew for sure from the gory scene as well as the system notifications that the man was dead.


    <i>''One more to go.''</i>

 Chapter 30: Us or them

    <h4>Chapter 30: Us or them</h4>


    <i>''One more to go''</i>


    Lumen thought as he ran in a straight line over all of the foliage towards thest remaining archer.


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


    <i>''I should have never listened to that bastard Michael...''</i>


    Taketa, thest remaining archer thought to himself as he ran and ran, not even bothering to look back at the pursuing Qu Quan.


    <i>''Seriously what the fuck is up with Michael, sending use after this group of people. Why couldn''t we have just went our separate ways.... Now because of that man''s ego being a little hurt he caused two of us to die while we only got one of them. And now here I am stuck in this situation, running for my life. Thank god I chose a ss with high agility otherwise I would be fucked too....''</i>


    Taketa had been one of the people who had entered the tutorial with Michael, yes with him. For some reason the system didn''t exin, Michael and Taketa had been taken from their ce of business together and hadnded in the tutorial in the same group.


    Michael was his supervisor and manager at a security firm and so he had experience managing a group of people inbat situations, hence why he was so well equipped for the tutorial in both his own power as well as his ability to bring people together and lead.


    However one big fault he has is that when someone hurts his ego, he doesn''t take it lightly. Often times the others in his group suffer as a result of his hurt pride and ego as he sends them to do his bidding instead of settling disputes that he is the sole reason for himself.


    And Taketa, a long time employee of Michaels for over 4 years before the tutorial was suffering the same fate as the previous two people missing from the 13rge group Lumen and his group met.


    Michael didn''t speak the truth when he mentioned the other 2, including a healer had died in battle against a powerful beast. It was only the half truth.


    The full facts were that they had died in battle not against a beast, but a powerful human who held a very powerful talent and managed to take down two people with him even when it was 15 against one.


    And now once again due to Michael''s disputes, Taketa and the two other''s had suffered a terrible fate, whittling Michael''s group even more down to 10.


    <i>''Fuck this, there is no way I can escape this situation now that that monster like spear warrior is on my trail...''</i>


    Taketa''s thoughts trailed away from Michael as he focused on the most prevalent enemy behind him, who had recently appeared along side Qu Quan with the other two trailing behind them.


    <i>''I''ll just surrender, I hope they can let me live...''</i>


    With that he hesitated for a few seconds but decided to slow down and turn around towards the others with his hands in the air, pleading for his life.


    "Please spare me! I didn''t want this, I was forced by Michael! He is a ruthless man who will do anything to get his way to achieve his goals, including throwing people like me for over 4 years to the wolves..... Please just spare me, I promise you won''t see me ever again, please!"


    Taketa was now surrounded as the four out of the original fiverge group blocked his every escape.


    All members had their eyes on Lumen as they now regarded him as their leader, including Will, as they awaited his decision on this matter.


    Lumen stood there, taking in everyone''s gaze, as well as Taketa''s who was now on his knees.


    However even though he kept eye contact with the man''s pleading face that had dried tears still streamed down his cheeks, he felt no strong emotion, no sympathy. Nothing.


    His decision was quick and didn''t take much time to think over as he delivered the kneeling Taketa''s sentence.


    "If the roles were reversed, would you spare us? Did you even flinch when you fired your arrows towards us, knowing you intended to kill us? No, you kept up your pursuit even after one of us had already been killed by your team mate."


    The more Lumen spoke, the more dread spread across Taketa''s face as clearly the flow of Lumen''s words was not in his favour at all.


    "You are a hypocrite, and I would be a hypocrite if I spared you."


    That was all Lumen said as he ignored Taketa''s sobbing final desperate pleads and plunged his spear deep into his heart, his life leaving him in only a few seconds after.


    Lumen finally had a look of relief on his face as he looked over towards Jake and the others.


    "You understand why I did this right? He begged for mercy and I still killed him, does this make you feel disgusted, does it make you wish you had never followed me?"


    Everyone stayed silent as they knew that if this were less than a week ago back on Earth, they should and would have felt this way in this situation. Hell, Will was even an advocate for abolishing the death penalty as punishment.


    But now, in the moment they could only silently agree with what Lumen had done to Taketa as they knew that in this ce, it was you or them.


    Clearly Taketa and the other two archers wouldn''t have spared them any mercy if the roles were reversed as they didn''t even give any of them a chance to talk it our before they had mercilessly fired upon them, killing Shivi.


    So why in this situation should they show any such sympathy and mercy to them?


    They wouldn''t, was the answer.


    Very soon, they rounded up the three corpses of the archer''s together, as well as bringing Shivi''s body back.


    Lumen didn''t waste any time in searching each body''s inventories for valuables to keep for themselves, including Shivi''s body as they couldn''t be wasteful in this ce. They had to make use of every resource they had, especially potions and water.


    Once Lumen was done, he turned to the others and spoke.


    "It''s time to send a message."

 Chapter 31: Sending a message

    <h4>Chapter 31: Sending a message</h4>


    "Its time to send a message"


    Lumen spoke to the others after he had finished scavenging the bodies of the dead archers.


    At first they were a little confused, wondering what he meant by sending a message. But when they saw his next actions, they couldn''t help turn their heads away from him with a few gagsing out of them.


    "You three go and give Shivi a proper burial while I deal with these three corpses here." Lumen gave the others a suggestion rather than an order as he could tell that they were unable to bear with the sight of him beheading the three dead archers without even flinching.


    <i>''Now I know what he meant by sending a message....''</i> They thought as they gave a few nods in agreement and quickly but carefully carried Shivi''s body away to give him the burial he deserved.


    10 minutester, Lumen had finished his dirty work dealing with the now headless corpses. He headed over to the new gravesite that had been dug for Shivi and stood along side the others as they stood there in silence contemting many things in their heads.


    "What should we do now?" Will was the first to ask Lumen, unsure of their future path.


    We leave a little gift for Michael when hees here searching for the three archers after not hearing from them for a while, then we leave and continue the hunt and grind for levels.


    The others had pieced the situation together and now understood what Lumen was nning on doing for Michael, and while they were reluctant, they decided to help him so that they could leave this ce as soon as possible.


    It didn''t take long before Lumen''s ''gift'' to Michael was ready and they had set off in a direction the opposite from where they had encountered Michael and his group.


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


    2 hourster, somewhere in the forest.


    "Where the fuck are those three???" Michael was beginning to feel very stressed now after not hearing back from the three archers he had sent out after Lumen and his party.


    "They should have been back by now, don''t tell me they actually lost and died to those low levelled, inexperienced brats!?" Michael was practically shouting at this point to his other group members as everyone but his most trusted number two stayed silent.


    "Michael, I''m sure they just encountered some snags on the way. There is no need to be worried, it''s only been a little under 3 hours since we sent them out. Who knows, that group of five may have gained some distance between those three before they managed to catch up, dying their arrival back here." Sunny, Michael''s second inmand in his group and a friend of over 20 years spoke, trying to reassure him of the fact that the likelihood of something happening to the three archers being low.


    Seeing as his friend had reassured him, Michael stopped ranting and shouting. But he didn''tpletely let the topic go as he spoke up to the whole group in amanding tone.


    "Everyone listen up! We will follow their trail and make the meeting quicker by meeting them half way! That way we can stop idling and wasting our time here waiting for them to get off their arses and get back to hunting." Michael spoke, ordering the whole group as he didn''t waste any time moving the 10 full pack of people towards where Lumen and the others had run off to.


    After a full hour of walking, the tracks of their three archerrades had stopped bringing the group to a standstill, unable to make a decision about their next move.


    Some suggested to just stay there and wait for the three toe to them, while others suggested going in the same direction the tracks had stopped, as they had been a continuous straight line ever since the start.


    However before anyone coulde to a definite decision, thest remaining archer out of the 10 of them shouted from atop a branch up arge tree.


    "I see smoke above the canopy to our 12 o''clock! I say we should head in that direction, I reckon it would be ourrades. Even if it isn''t, a fire is something worth investigating." The archer, who looked to be in histe twenties with stubble all over his face, spoke.


    A sense of foreshadowing hit the archer as he was unable to exin the source and he was quite unsettled by the feeling.


    This was another of the original 5 members of Michael''s group, and so Michael trusted his words more than the others who had joinedter.


    Hence, Michael agreed with the archer''s words.


    "I agree with John, even if it isn''t ourrades, they would also be able to notice the smoke and fire with their perception. Perhaps we will meet them there as soon as we arrive."


    The entire group of 10 once again set off, this time towards the faint pir of smokeing from the distance in front of them.


    While walking, the source of the smoke became clearer and clearer the closer they got.


    What stood in front of them was a great pyre, three metres tall burning with great vigour. Clearly the fire was made recently as the great orange me still had plenty more fight in it.


    The group stood a short distance away from it at first, observing the marvellous sight until some of them noticed some figures in the fire that didn''t resemble logs.


    They resembled something more like.... human bodies...


    They quickly realised something was off as Michael sent a few heavy warriors over to get a closer look.


    However when they got closer, their attention was taken away by something on the other side of the fire rather than the bodies in it, with loud gasps and shock being present on their faces.


    "Boss, you bettere take a look at this...." One of them said with difficulty as he was unable to describe the scene in front of him, one could only view it themselves to get the same feeling as him.


    Michael looked inquisitively at the heavy warriors he had sent over. These men were hardened warriors who had been in many battles with either beast or human over the past few days and hadn''t shown a reaction like this even one time since he had met them.


    But Michael understood very well why they had such gaping mouths and shockden faces as his quicky joined them for a short moment upon the sight in front of him.


    It quickly turned from shock and horror to anger and finally rage the more he took the scene in.


    Shortly, the rest of his group came over to see what themotion was, and the scene of the three heads of the archers Michael had sent out sitting on the tops of makeshift spears was what greeted them.


    Each head''s final expression disyed nothing but horror, with the 10 people surrounding them not looking much different as some even went to the side to heave out the contents of their stomach, not being able to bear the sight.


    They had killed humans before while in the tutorial, but it had always been quick and never as gory as this.

 Chapter 32: Revenge and gains

    <h4>Chapter 32: Revenge and gains</h4>


    Michael started shouting in anger and pure fury and started rampaging through the site, destroying both the remaining fire as well as the three spears that contained the heads. Clearly he had some untreated anger management issues...


    But upon knocking the spear containing Taketa''s head down, a small piece of cloth followed it,nding on the ground in front of Michael where he had just rampaged.


    Still seething with rage, he picked it up to look what was on it, as it was clear it wasn''t there naturally and neither of the three archers were wearing any clothes that resembled this material.


    <i>''An eye for an eye.''</i> Was all that was written on it.


    Seeing the small note that Lumen had left for him, Michael ripped it to pieces and threw the remains onto the little fire that was left after he had destroyed it,


    "We will get our revenge one day, I will make sure of that." He didn''t shout this time, instead his voice was rather calm and scary considering the fury he had just disyed.


    The rest of his group only voicelessly nodded and followed after him, not even Sunny spoke up as he knew his friend and boss well. Any little thing said to him while he was in such a vtile state would end up with consequences the recipient would not like. Not even for long time friends like him.


    After checking the site for any remains or anything that could really help them identify where Will, Lumen and the others had gone, they left it with tough luck as they ended up with nothing.


    They had been careful in covering their tracks so that such a thing didn''t happen again.


    Soon though, John spoke out once again in the group, breaking the silence.


    "It seems we weren''t the only ones who suffered a loss... Look over there boss, it''s a grave site...." He paused between his words, considering whether he should mention his findings to his boss, worrying about how he would react.


    "Good, they are four while we still have ten people which will only grow in the future. When, not if, we see them again, we won''t be leaving their sight until they are six feet underground." Michael spoke once again in a calm tone, sending shivers down the spines of some of his group at how cold and emotionless he spoke.


    <i>''He''s really lost it this time, he didn''t even react much to John''s words...''</i>


    <i>''I''ve seen many crime documentaries back on Earth, every psychopath acts like this in those...''</i>


    The thoughts of his group reached the same conclusion about Michael as they now continued on their own journey, not working to catch up to Lumen and co any more as it was a pipe dream to find them at this point.


    However Michael had a feeling that they would be meeting again, at one point or another.


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


    Tens of kilometres away, in the forest.


    An arrow and a blue, glowing ball of mana whizzed through the air of the forest. The silence of the forest was disturbed for the first time in forever as the air split for the arrow and the mana bolt let out an ominous hum as it glided gloriously through the forest.


    They hit an unaware boar beast over 12 metres away from where the four people in Lumen''s group stood crouched behind a toppled tree.


    The arrow prated deep into the beast as it whimpered and whined, running crazily about for a couple dozen metres before it ran out of energy and copsed to the ground.


    The second boar beside it wasn''t any luckier as the mana bolt had left a gaping hole where it''s head once was,unching the beast''s lifeless body into the tree behind it, ending it''s life instantly before it even left the ground.


    Lumen smiled to the others at the sessful hunt as he ripped the arrow out of the beast and handed it back to Qu Quan, who cleaned them routinely and ced them back in her quiver.


    Arrows were a limited resource in the forest and she had to conserve and reuse as much as she could, her reserves thankfully doubling due to Shivi''s unfortunate death.


    Will was to the side, his eyes darting up and down, clearly going through his status screen looking through the messages he had received after taking down the other beast with a mana bolt.


    His spell wasn''t even half as powerful as Lumen''s, but the damage it could deal was still lethal if it hit a vital area, such as the head of the boar he had just killed.


    Speaking of system messages, Lumen had inspected his after they had made a certain distance with Michael''s group and was very happy at his gains.


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 6 F tier human.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 1000 experience.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 200 credits]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 5 F tier human.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 750 experience.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 150 credits]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! You have levelled up!</strong>


    <strong>Received +5 intelligence, +5 wisdom, +5 agility, +5 stamina, +5 strength, +5 endurance, +4 perception, +3 Wisdom, +6 unallocated stats.]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 7 F tier human]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 2000 experience]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 400 credits]</strong>


    With another level up and more credits to his name, he was happy with his rewards even if it meaned that he had to risk being hunted down by three archers.


    He wished he could do such a thing again, however he would hope it happened when he was out solo in the forest rather than getting the other three involved.


    Clearly he was more willing to take risk involving other humans than them, as he was ruthless when he killed but the others still had traces of hesitation.


    His status screen had also seen quite a few changes, that were very wee to him.


    <strong>[Name: Lumen]</strong>


    <strong>[Age: 0]</strong>


    <strong>[Race: Human]</strong>


    <strong>[Title: Bodyless Being, Enhanced Physique]</strong>


    <strong>[Talent: Perfect Mana Conduit]</strong>


    <strong>[Level: 5]</strong>


    <strong>[ss: Spear Magister]</strong>


    <strong>[Experience: 512/2000]</strong>


    <strong>[Health (HP): 8700/8700]</strong>


    <strong>[Mana (MP): 860/860]</strong>


    <strong>[Soul Tier: F]</strong>


    <strong>[Lifespan: ¡Þ]</strong>


    <strong>[Strength: 87]</strong>


    <strong>[Agility: 100]</strong>


    <strong>[Endurance: 87]</strong>


    <strong>[Stamina: 87]</strong>


    <strong>[Intelligence: 86]</strong>


    <strong>[Wisdom: 77]</strong>


    <strong>[Perception: 42]</strong>


    <strong>[Willpower: 31]</strong>


    <strong>[Unallocated points: 0]</strong>


    <strong>[Skills: Akashic Languages (Unique), Basic Spear Mastery (Common), Basic Footwork (Common), Basic Identify (Common), Basic Mana bolt (Common), Basic Mana reinforcement (Common), Heal (Umon)]</strong>


    <strong>[Credits: 1862]</strong>


    <strong>[Inventory: 16/100]</strong>


    <strong>[System Store]</strong>


    His stats had seen an overall increase due to his increased level ups along side the extra stats that he gains from his ss on top of that every level up. He had also decided to ditch his ''all round'' distribution of following his ss''s stat distribution scheme.


    Although that was good and optimal for bncing his warrior and mage abilities, after experiencing a fight against three archers where it took so long to catch up and fight with them, he knew he had to invest in agility.


    He may have been faster in that fight, but with the advantage everyone receives upon levelling up, that would change in the future and he wasn''t looking forward to that, hence his decision to invest 13 unallocated stats into agility, with the remaining 8 going into intelligence to increase his mana pool once more.


    However although the stat gains were very nice to see, he was happiest to see the changes to his skills the most. The proficiency gained from fighting humans is leagues better than fighting beasts.

 Chapter 33: A promising future

    <h4>Chapter 33: A promising future</h4>


    Lumen''s proficiency in nearly all of his skills had seen a huge increase ever since the fight with the three archers, and now after killing these few boar beasts, his efforts were beginning to pay off.


    <strong>[Basic Spear mastery (Lv.2 3%) (Common): You have basic proficiency in the use of a spear inbat, you are improving but there is still much to learn. When using a spear, a miniscule synergistic effect is formed between the wielder''s strength, agility and the spear. +2% damage to all attacks dealt with a spear.]</strong>


    His spear mastery had now reached level 2, with some changesing to it''s skill description too. The most obvious one being the percentage increase for damage when using the spear changing from 1% to 2%. It may not have looked like much at the moment, or even had a noticeable impact in battle.


    He assumed that the percentage would only keep increasing with every skill level up in the future and so the skill would only get more and more useful as he levels it up.


    His other skills had also seen increases too, with his footwork skill also reaching level 2.


    <strong>[Basic Footwork (Lv2. 6%) (Common): You have basic proficiency in the art of movement inbat, but there is still much to be learned. Your movements are less sloppy. +2% movement speed when inbat.]</strong>


    His other magic skills had also seen increases in their proficiency due to him revealing them inbat to hisrades.


    They hadn''t managed to reach level 2 yet, but his mana bolt was hovering around 73% proficiency, his mana reinforcement hovering around 51% proficiency and his heal skill only at 22% as he had used that the least.


    His basic identify skill had also seen a great increase in proficiency as he kept up his usage of the skill while not inbat and used it to identify many nts in his surroundings when resting.


    A result of this constant use over thest few days led to it finally reaching level 2.


    <strong>[Basic Identify (Lv.2 12%) (Common)]</strong>


    The description still remained the same and he hadn''t noticed any changes from it so far, perhaps some more experimentation would be needed before he knew what changes it had brought.


    Other than that, Lumen had also inquired about the other''s progress in their skills and stats as he was quite curious about how the others were getting on.


    From this, he found that everyone only had one level 2 skill at this point. Each person had reached level 2 in their main mastery skill of their ss, apart from Will who had levelled his Basic Heal skill up to level 2.


    The others were very happy about this as it doubled the HP he could heal at level 1, giving the group a hint that by the time his skill reaches level 10, it would heal around the same amount as the basic health potions that they were so stingy with using!


    Knowing such information, everyone was very happy with this fact and was looking forward to the future where they wouldn''t have to worry as much about conserving potions. They had also decided to prioritise helping will level up both his skills and his own level.


    Other than skills, Lumen had found that everyone was sitting at about 60 points in their highest stat, and ~40 in their other stats. This greatly surprised Lumen as it was over half of what he had while only being a level higher than them.


    But he hadn''t chosen to becent with his superiority in stats as he knew that stats weren''t everything in this world. Talents had a big part of it too, such as Jake''s strength increasing talent and his own ''Perfect Mana Conduit'' talent which increases the power output of all of his magic skills.


    From what Lumen knew so far, stats were only the bare minimum of the power you could exert and talent is what really decides whether you would win a fight or end up in the ground with all of the other weaklings of the tutorial.


    Now that everyone was done inspecting their skills and stats, they set off in search for more beasts to hunt and experience to gain.


    While searching they noticed that the levels of beasts increased as they moved further and further in the direction they were headed, confirming to them that they were heading into the deeper parts of the forest where beasts would be higher levelled but also more dangerous.


    This forest was huge and Lumen looked forward to what he may find at the centre of the forest, as there must be an end to the constant increases in the level of beasts at some point.


    It wouldn''t quite be adhering to the standards of a ''tutorial'' if one could encounter beasts with levels in the hundreds deep into the forest.


    Not that that mattered to Lumen, as what really mattered was levels and if he kept hunting then he would eventually reach a point where he could fight such beasts, at least he thought so.


    However the further they walked, they noticed that the number of beasts seemed to have decreased which quickly became a problem for the group as their levels and experience was left to stagnate with nothing to hunt.


    This annoyed the group a little bit as clearly this area held higher level beasts, yet they hadn''t even caught sight of them since the first beast they had caught in this area.


    It was as if the whole forest was avoiding them, which obviously wasn''t the case as every beast seemed to enter an enraged mode upon sighting humans and charged to attack without thoughts.


    After another half an hour of nothing but empty forests, the group finally spotted some movement in the treeline and Qu Quan immediately alerted everyone to get down lest they get caught off guard.


    Ahead of them stood a deer beast unlike any they had seen before. It stood there at a full 3 metres in height when it lifted it''s majestic head. It''s antlers sparkled in the faint sunlight as they looked like they were made of a jade like glistening white crystal.


    It''s huge crown like antlers seemed to be glowing at the seems with power as this would most definitely be the most difficult but most rewarding fight the group would have taken on so far.


    It was one of the most beautiful beasts they had ever seen, but it was also by far the most powerful.


    <strong>[??? - level 13]</strong>


    This deer was 5 whole levels higher than the previously highest level beast they had fought.


    Even when Lumen used his level 2 basic Identify, he only obtained the beast''s level but not it''s name.


    If this beast were surrounded by even 1 more beast, they wouldn''t attempt such a risky fight with the level difference between them.


    But after they had experienced many battles against both human and beast over the past few days, they felt confident in defeating this majestic creature.


    Lumen looked at the others and confirmed that all of them were up to it. If he even saw a sign of hesitation in any of their eyes he would call off the fight and give up to find something a little lower levelled to hunt.


    None of them showed anything but determination and a little excitement as they readied their stances to attack the beast at any time.

 Chapter 34: Mistakes were made

    <h4>Chapter 34: Mistakes were made</h4>


    Lumen lifted his hand in the air for everyone to see, motioning everyone to stop their movements. He motioned to Qu Quan to initiate the fight as she took the bow off her shoulder and took an arrow out of her quiver, nocking an arrow. She was ready at any time for Lumen to signal her.


    After a few moments of waiting for the deer to turn its head away from them, Lumen lowered his hand as almost at the same time Qu Quan fired her shot directly at the beast''s head from behind.


    If this were any normal beast, the shot would have killed them instantly with the arrow piercing straight through their skull and brain.


    But this deer was no normal beast as when the arrow made contact with it''s head, instead of prating right through, it only made a dent about half a centimetre deep before falling to the ground.


    Silence permeated the area as Qu Quan and the others took time toprehend what just happened.


    This deer''s skin was thick enough to block one of her most powerful attacks!


    Sensing a very bad situation brewing, Lumen didn''t hesitate anymore as he conjured up two mana bolts, one in each hand and sent them both towards the deer as he shouted to the others.


    "RUN!"


    They had made a severe misjudgement this time.


    "SCREEEE!"


    The deerunched it''s own terrifyingly loud squeal followed by the sound of intense stomping and vibrations heading right for the spot Lumen and the other''s were at only a moment ago.


    Lumen had no regard for his surroundings as he did everything possible to try and put as much distance between them and the deer.


    Thankfully his one of his mana bolts hadn''t missed and struck the deer right in it''s front right leg, causing a lot more damage than Qu Quan''s arrow and even causing the deer to stumble forwards a moment after.


    However it stood back up at lightning speed with it''s leg still not showing a sign of blood or burns from his attack as only a slight bruisey where his mana bolt hit.


    Seeing how even one of his own most powerful attacks still didn''t draw blood or even phase the deer, Lumen put 110% of his focus and effort into running as fast as he could.


    The others were luckier than him as although they were slower than both Lumen and the beast, Lumen had managed to draw it''s aggro with his double mana bolt attack and it was focused on chasing him down.


    Jake, Will and Qu Quan had a chance to breathe as they grouped up far from the deer beast and started quick firing ideas to each other, wanting to help Lumen in whatever way they could.


    "I say we split up and each take a turn to attack the beast to draw it away from him and lead it to somewhere it could be trapped like a small cave or something like that!" Jake was the first to speak as he wanted to immediately go over and attack the beast to get it away from Lumen.


    "That''s not a terrible idea except for the fact that we have no idea where such a small cave could be in this area, the nearest one could be tens of kilometres away for all we know! Not to mention the deer could camp outside the entrance of the cave, trapping us in there until the end of the tutorial... I say we think about this carefully and try to approach them to see if we can find any sort of opportunity to escape with Lumen." Will responded to Jake as shut down his n as such a thing would only be suicide for them if they wanted to pull off such a thing without knowing the environment enough.


    "I- I agree with Will!" Qu Quan stuttered her words as she was still recovering from the shock of her dealing no damage to the beast.


    With that settled, they started running back towards Lumen and the pursuing deer, which was much faster than him.


    <i>''Shit, what do I do..... This deer is way faster than me and if it weren''t for it''srge size and difficulty navigating through these tight spaces in the trees, it would have got to me already.''</i>


    Lumen was running through his thoughts while constantly looking back at the deer who as very quickly catching up to him.


    He cut another sharp turn around a group of trees to put some more distance between them with the deer''srge body.


    But he knew that he couldn''t keep doing such a thing as he would run out of stamina at some point and he basically knew for certain that the deer would have plenty more stamina left in it long after Lumen ran dry.


    This left him in his predicament where he was constantly running in circles around trees and over shrubbery trying to keep the distance between him and the deer. He evenunched an odd Mana bolt every so often when his mana somewhat recovered enough to do so.


    But each one only gave him a temporary gap until the deer used it''s incredible agility to catch back up in no time, with little to no injuries on it from the mana bolt.


    After around 10 minutes of constant running, he noticed Jake, Will and Qu Quan in the distance running towards him as he shouted at them foring back for him.


    "I SAID RUN GOD DAMMIT!"


    He knew it was toote to change their minds as they didn''t even listen to his shouts and kept drawing closer to him and the deer at a fast pace.


    When he looked back over to them, he noticed that they had stopped and kept a reasonable distance while they kept their eyes peeled for the deer and any opportunity they could use to stop it''s rampage on Lumen.


    Unfortunately they found nothing as they were helpless.


    But while they were observing their surroundings, they had failed to notice Lumen disappear into a hole in the ground with shock on his face as not even his voice could reach them before he was sucked in.


    By the time they looked back, it was toote....

 Chapter 35: Lumen鈥檚 Situation

    <h4>Chapter 35: Lumen''s Situation</h4>


    Before Will, Jake and Qu Quan could even notice, Lumen was already out of sight with the only trace of him being there being his tracks on the ground as well as the rapidly closing hole that he had just been sucked into.


    Panic filled them as they wanted to immediately run over to help him, but their rationale stopped them from doing so as they knew from the speed the hole was closing that they wouldn''t get there on time. Not only this but the deer beast was still rampaging about, looking for Lumen as well as it too had lost sight and scent of him.


    Feeling helpless, all they could do was sit down and wait for the beast to leave on its own and dig, looking for Lumen where the hole had closed up.


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


    In the hole, Lumen was feeling a little disoriented at the sudden suction force that had pulled him underground.


    If his memory wasn''t ying tricks on him, he recalled that a hole had suddenly opened up right below him and dragged him into it, as if the hole somehow had a brain of its own.


    He kept looking around him as all he could see was darkness in the hole devoid of light.


    The only sense useful to him being his touch as he could feel that he was still descending further into the ground below him.


    This continued on for another minute or so, until a change that greatly surprised Lumen appeared.


    <strong>[Hidden Tutorial Challenge Dungeon discovered!</strong>


    <strong>These dungeons can be found in many hidden areas all throughout the tutorial, as well as the Fantasia Realm whiches after. They offer many rewards as well as danger, with the twoing hand in hand; the more danger there is, the better the reward offered.</strong>


    <strong>As a tutorial specific dungeon, this variant of dungeon will have its difficulty and level requirements matching the average level of humans in this tutorial. But be aware, enter at your own risk.]</strong>


    <strong>[Entry requirements: Must be below level 10, must be in the top 10% of overall credits earned, must not have a side ss.]</strong>


    <strong>[Entry requirements met.]</strong>


    <strong>[Final Warning: This challenge dungeon does not ept groups of challengers. Only a single challenger is permitted for this dungeon.</strong>


    <strong>Do you still wish to proceed?]</strong>


    <i>''It seems I''ve stumbled upon an opportunity in time of great peril!''</i>


    Lumen''s heart was beating faster than usual as his excitement grew for the prospect of rewards from beating this challenge dungeon.


    He was determined toe out of this on top as he wouldn''t ept failure.


    Earlier he had been thinking of these various ''opportunities'' that the system spoke of in the introduction to the tutorial, so far up until this point he hadn''t even caught sight of anything that would fit that criteria.


    But now he had finally found one, or rather this one had found him.


    Lumen didn''t believe in fate or anything like that but this dungeon finding him at his most dangerous and terrifying moment perfectly fits the definition of fate.


    This dungeon was very will hidden, as stated in it''s name, and it would no doubt be dangerous even if it said the difficulty matched the average level of people in the tutorial.


    If this was right then he would be in for a hard fought challenge considering the types of human enemies he had met so far, with there being no doubt in his mind that there was most likely others stronger than him here, even with his starting advantage.


    But he would do his best to make sure it didn''t stay that way.


    The extent to which of how many people there were stronger than him, he could only specte. He knew he was at least in the top 10% of people in this ce from him meeting the entry requirements of credits, but he didn''t know what end of the spectrum he was on in that top 10%.


    Was he in first ce, or did he barely make the cut of 10%?


    He pushed these thoughts aside as he epted the prompt from the system to enter the dungeon, all of his senses being deprived of him for a moment until when he reopened his eyes, he could finally see some sources of light.


    One such source of light was the system panel in front of him.


    <strong>[Challenge Dungeon entered!</strong>


    <strong>Objective: Survive and defeat the rabid wolves scattered about the dungeon who gue the deep caves of the tutorial world. The dungeon will be ssed as cleared when the countdown reaches zero or extraneous circumstances call for it.</strong>


    <strong>Rewards will be decided based on performance upon clearing the dungeon.]</strong>


    Lumen felt his vision shift once again as he found himself standing in the midst of a giant cave. Looking around him, he saw only te and rocks, with shattered and broken stonesying about here and there, littering the area around him. He also noticed the ominous and sharp stctite hanging from the ceiling of the cave, looking as if it could kill him instantly if they fell on him.


    The whole cave had a vague light permeating throughout the whole thing with the source of it being the luminescent moss covering the walls and ground of the cave here and there.


    He checked his inventory to make sure that all of his equipment was still there and sighed relief when he saw it all in the same slots he had put them in before.


    If he was thrown into the dungeon with nothing but his hands and spells to defend himself he would be in a very precarious situation.


    Lumen continued observing his surroundings as he made sure to make note of interesting areas and mark where he had been so he didn''t get lost in this ce.


    This monotonous explore, observe, mark routine carried on for 10 minutes of walking until a change urred which startled Lumen.


    "Grrrrrr-"


    A low growl came from a dark area with no moss on the other end of the cave.


    Lumen readied his stance to attack the rabid wolf and was ready to pounce towards it when something else had beaten him to it and came flying towards him from the side.


    Before he could examine what it was exactly, a second wolf came flying straight at him as he used his quick reactions to barely dodge it by a hair.


    <i>''Shit, didn''t the system say this dungeon matched the average level of humans in the tutorial!''</i>


    Lumen''s thoughts quickened as the results of his basic inspecty clear in front of him.


    <strong>[Rabid Wolf - level 9]</strong>


    Both wolves were level 9.

 Chapter 36: Rabid wolves

    <h4>Chapter 36: Rabid wolves</h4>


    Lumen realised that this dungeon would be even bigger of a challenge than he thought when he saw the levels of the first enemies he came across since entering the dungeon.


    <i>''Level 9, although it''s not impossible, it''ll be damned hard toe out of this fight without severe injuries.''</i>


    He didn''t even consider the option ofing out unscathed, as the level difference as well as it being two on one was vastly different from his other fights at simr levelled beasts when hunting in a group with the others.


    His confidence was especially low after his misjudgement of even thinking he could kill that level 13 deer earlier on.


    However he pushed these condemning thoughts aside as he focused on the fight ahead of him.


    The wolf that had pounced at his in the sudden sneak attack earlier had already recovered and had joined it''spanion''s side as now he had to face the two of them head on.


    Lumen wasn''t afraid though as he held his spear in front of him and pointed towards the two wolves.


    <strong>[Mana reinforcement]</strong>


    His mana reserves lowered by a little under an eighth as he activated one of his skills, increasing the damage output he could deliver with his spear with the enhancement of mana.


    As his proficiency kept growing with the skill, he was able to handle the mana being injected into the spear more, with his control over it being a major factor in battle now.


    He put this to use right at that moment as he focused on one of the wolves, deciding to single them out rather than focus on them both at the same time.


    With no hesitation he took steadied steps towards the wolf as it growled and barked at him, looking for any chance to take a chomp at his legs.


    His preciseness and level 2 basic mastery of his spear showed in this situation as although the wolf tried to dodge the attack, he adjusted his trajectory mid swing and caught it right in it''s shoulder.


    A whimper and even more growls came as the injured wolf backed off a little bit, showing an actual sign of intelligence that hadn''t been shown in any animals he had seen until now.


    But he didn''t dwell on what made these wolves special for now as he took another swing at it.


    Disappointingly this swing missed and instead took some te from the ground and caused a few sparks as the second wolf took the opportunity to pounce at Lumen while his spear was lowered to the ground.


    An intense brawl started between man and beast as Lumeny on the cold, hard ground with the wolf on top of him, trying it''s hardest to rip his throat out with his foamy saliva dripping down on his face with every growl and bite.


    <i>''Shit, this little fucker got the better of me!''</i>


    Lumen tried his best to keep the wolf''s snout and razer sharp teeth away from his face and neck with the handle of the spear being the only thing holding it back.


    Their strength was around equal and he knew that he couldn''t let this continue any longer as the other wolf coulde and join the attack at any time.


    If this were to happen while he was in this situation he would be done for.


    Without dying any longer, he used his skill that had saved his life many times over thest few days.


    <strong>[Mana bolt]</strong>


    Even more of his mana reserves dried up as he could see his light blue bar in the periphery of his vision shrink once more.


    The skill wasted no time forming in his hand as the ball of blue light once again showed it''s grandeur to the world and sted the wolf off him, in the direction of the other wolf.


    With both of them now injured he knew this was his best chance to kill the two of them as he lifted his still mana reinforced spear and put all of his energy and bodily strength into one mighty throw of his spear right at the rabid wolf that had just been thrown back by the mana bolt.


    What ensued was carnage, wails and whimpers as the wolf was unable to dodge or block the attack due to it''s injuries and sumbed to it''s fate as the spear prated deep into it''s heart.


    The struggling wolf flopped onto it''s side, tongue hanging out of it''s mouth, no longer breathing.


    One threat down, now he only had to deal with the second wolf and he would be in the clear.


    This other wolf didn''t seem as injured as the other one as it only had aceration on it''s shoulder that hit no major bone or organ.


    Any semnce of intelligence had left the beast now, as with every other beast it came running at him, this time with a limp.


    It reached him in mere seconds as he jolted his body to the side.


    The wolves'' fighting styles revolved around aiming for the neck of the prey with their razor sharp teeth in order to suffocate or break the neck of their prey, delivering a swift death when sessful.


    Without his fast reactions and perseverance, Lumen would have been dead to such attacks already.


    However a w in their fighting style was that unlike big cats, they don''t utilise their ws on their paws as much and mainly focus on their teeth and powerful bite to kill.


    Lumen made use of this weakness as he waited for the perfect moment when the wolf came in for another bite and mmed a kick down onto the wolf''s snout from above, stomping it to the ground as the wolf was now unable to open its maw unless it freed itself from Lumen''s death grip.


    But unfortunately for it, it''s chance of killing Lumen was quelled when the fight was reduced to a one on one. His equal strength to the wolf allowed him to keep his foot nted on the wolf''s snout and use his spear to plunge deeply into the skull of the beast between it''s ears.


    All resistance was stopped as this wolf had joined it''srade in death, also meeting it''s end with Lumen''s spear.

 Chapter 37: Fortuitous encounter!

    <h4>Chapter 37: Fortuitous encounter!</h4>


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 9 F tier Rabid Wolf.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 4000 experience]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 1000 credits]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! You have levelled up!</strong>


    <strong>Received +5 intelligence, +5 wisdom, +5 agility, +5 stamina, +5 strength, +5 endurance, +4 perception, +3 Wisdom, +6 unallocated stats.]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 9 F tier Rabid Wolf.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 4000 experience]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 1000 credits]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! You have levelled up!</strong>


    <strong>Received +5 intelligence, +5 wisdom, +5 agility, +5 stamina, +5 strength, +5 endurance, +4 perception, +3 Wisdom, +6 unallocated stats.]</strong>


    Lumen inspected his gains from ying the two rabid wolves and he noticed the stark difference in gains from hunting alonepared to hunting as a group of four.


    He had levelled up twice just from fighting these 2 level 9 beasts, taking him up to level 7 and increasing his stats even more.


    It was safe to say that if he were toe across another 2 level 9 rabid wolves, the fight would not be as difficult as the one he had just fought.


    Just as he was thinking about such a thing, another rabid wolf came out of the shadows growling at him,pletely oblivious to the massacre that had just urred to twopanions of it.


    <strong>[Rabid Wolf - level 8]</strong>


    This lone wolf was a level lower than the other two he had just in, and although Lumen was a little annoyed at having to fight so soon after barely surviving against two level 9''s, the beast was basically unknowingly handing him free experience so he wouldn''t turn down having to kill another so soon.


    This fight was way easier than the previous one as he offed the level 8 rabid wolf right away now that he knew how they fought. He had managed to kill it before it could evene within 2 metres of him with just one mana bolt to it''s head.


    Instead of dancing around with his spear trying to get a good hit in, he just decided to go for a quick decapitation strike with his mana bolt to conserve stamina.


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 8 Rabid Wolf.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 3000 experience]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 800 credits]</strong>


    His experience and credits went up once more from the kill, but he didn''t see any more level ups from this as he now needed 8000 experience for a level up, and with the addition of that kill just now, he was only around 1500 experience from levelling up again.


    The benefits of solo fighting beasts levels higher than one''s own level are obvious.


    Enjoying the rapid growth the dungeon provides, Lumen spent some time resting to regenerate his stamina and mana before he set off to explore the dungeon once more.


    However while exploring, he hade across something he would have never expected to find in a dungeon filled with rabid wolves who seemed to only contain a semnce of intelligence.


    <strong>[Bronze treasure chest (Umon) - A system created treasure chest containing goodies many times better than the basic equipment given out upon ss awakening.]</strong>


    This was the first time he had actually found something of value in the tutorial apart from the dungeon itself.


    His inspection of the treasure chest only revealed it''s basic details and not the details of what was inside.


    <i>''There seems to be some sort of barrier blocking him from probing inside the chest, probably some sort of system magic or whatever.''</i>


    Seeing as he couldn''t check inside the chest without actually opening it, he without further ado went forward to open it.


    Unlike the ominous barrier blocking inspection, it was rtively easy to open as there was no lock keeping it shut and the lid was easily lifted by Lumen to reveal whaty inside.


    Whaty inside was not something he had expected, but was very wee anyway.


    <strong>[Ring of Darden (Umon) - A ring crafted by D grade craftsman Darden gifted with the ability to grant the user an increase in mana as well as to slightly increase the potency of magic spells.</strong>


    <strong>Effects: + 300 mana, +3% magic damage</strong>


    <strong>Requirements: Magic type ss, level 6]</strong>


    This was the only item that was stored inside therge chest and it seemed almostical that something the size of a human was used to store an item barely a few centimetres in size.


    Lumen''s attention was on the ring itself though, as this was perfect for him in his current state. His mostcking feature at the moment was his low amount of manabined with the high cost of his magic skills.


    Considering hisbat style consisted of both physical and magical attacks, as well as the fact that his magic attacks were his most powerful attacks, it was almost fate that he found something that perfectly suited him.


    Once he was done inspecting the ring and equipped it, he decided to look at the tutorial panel for the first time since entering the tutorial.


    He had neglected using it up until this point as he didn''t really think it would be useful to him but when he remembered that it disyed the time remaining until the end of the tutorial, he decided to make use of it by keeping track of the time he would have spent in the dungeon.


    <strong>[Tutorial Panel</strong>


    <strong>Time remaining: 57 days 3 hours</strong>


    <strong>Total Survivors remaining: 12653/15000</strong>


    <strong>Credits collected: 3862</strong>


    <strong>Credits ranking: 260/12653]</strong>


    Upon inspecting the tutorial panel for the first time, Lumen was quite surprised to see that it actually showed the total number of participants in this tutorial!


    However when he saw that the number had dwindled by nearly 2500 in just 4 days, his mood soured as he was reminded that the worst danger in this tutorial weren''t the beasts, but other humans.


    It was a little after sunrise ever since he entered this ce, he guessed that he had spent over 14 hours in the dungeon so far seeing that the timer was now at 3 hours until the 57th day starts, meaning it was near midnight now.


    Considering that he nned on clearing the whole dungeon with plenty of time remaining in the tutorial to explore more of it, he decided to ramp up his hunting of the rabid wolves.


    At his current pace and not knowing the total number of wolves in there, it could take him the whole duration before he even cleared it, assuming he could even defeat the boss.

 Chapter 38: Level 10

    <h4>Chapter 38: Level 10</h4>


    It had now been nearly a week since Lumen had entered the Challenge Dungeon. Jake, Will and Qu Quan had long left the area thinking that he was dead, if Lumen knew this fact he wouldn''t me them for it as he would have done the same.


    Over thest week in the dungeon, Lumen had killed another 11 Rabid wolves, with the highest level wolf being at level 10.


    Coincidentally this level 10 rabid wolf was his most recent hunt, but by far his most difficult if you didn''t include the level 13 deer.


    He was at level 9 when he fought the wolf, when he first encountered it he thought it wouldn''t be much harder than killing the level 9 wolves he had been used to by now.


    But when his first attacknded on the wolf, it was only then he understood why his group was almost wiped out by their na?ve attack on the deer.


    It seems that once a beast reaches level 10, they go through a change that gives them an overall increase in strengthpared to beasts below that level.


    He didn''t have any proof of this theory yet, but he also assumed that Humans would also experience the same change upon reaching level 10.


    Thankfully for Lumen, he had experience fighting with these rabid wolves by that point and his own level being only 1 more kill from level 10, he had managed to take the wolf down in an intense battle that drained him of both his stamina and mana.


    But when looking at the rewards and finally seeing the level up he had been anticipating for thest day and a half, he sighed with relief.


    And, upon reading his system messages his theory had been confirmed.


    <strong>[Ding! Killed level 10 F tier Rabid Wolf.]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 10,000 experience]</strong>


    <strong>[Gained 2000 credits]</strong>


    <strong>[Ding! You have levelled up!</strong>


    <strong>Received +5 intelligence, +5 wisdom, +5 agility, +5 stamina, +5 strength, +5 endurance, +4 perception, +3 Wisdom, +6 unallocated stats.]</strong>


    <strong>[Spear Magister skills avable]</strong>


    He didn''t know if this was the same option the beasts got upon reaching level 10, but he was immensely happy when he saw that he could finally gain another skill for his ss.


    He had five skills avable in total. Looking at the skills, he looked at each one carefully in order to make the best choice for him.


    <strong>[1. Inferior Blink (Umon) - Blink is an ancient spatial spell used by spatial mages since the beginning of time. Allows for the mage to teleport to any space around them within a range of 5 metres. Blink does not require the use of any external magic tools or equipment, but the skill''s level can be upgraded through constant use, increasing it''s range. Mana cost: 500 MP.]</strong>


    This skill was very appealing to Lumen who had only heard of high level cultivators being able to teleport back in his previous universe. However the range was too small for him to pick it at the moment and it wasn''t really useful to him in the dungeon.


    He swiftly moved onto the next.


    <strong>[2. Empire''s Spear technique (Umon) - A widespread spear technique Denoting from the Sangruil Empire in the Fantasia realm. A technique passed down from generation to generation ever since the empire''s founding, they pride themselves in it''s efficiency in battle. Effects include an additional 10% damage boost on top of the user''s own spear mastery skill.]</strong>


    This one did seem like it was very useful for Lumen at the moment, especially in helping him hunt even quicker in the dungeon. If he didn''t find a better skill among the other 3, he would pick this one.


    <strong>[3. Basic Tracking (Common) - Every hunter''s first objective is to find their prey. Grants the user basic proficiency in spotting patterns and tracks of prey that has been marked or you are familiar with more easily. Requires identifiable tracks to be used. Efficiency of the skill boosted by perception.]</strong>


    If Lumen were still in the main tutorial area, he would choose this skill in a heartbeat as the main factor slowing down his hunting was theck of beasts he could find. Unfortunately, or fortunately, for him he was in the dungeon where the space was limited and the Rabid wolves are easy to find.


    <strong>[4. Basic Unarmed (Common) - A skill every physicalbatant should learn. Grants the warrior a boost in damage when inbat without an equipped weapon. This skill could be the difference between life or death if one finds themself in the unfortunate situation of losing their weapon. Effects include a 15% boost in damage done with user''s own body, provides a miniscule boost to the strength stat.]</strong>


    This skill was also a no go for Lumen as although it would seem like quite the useful and maybe even life saving skill for warriors as the description states, it wouldn''t be as useful for him who also had magic skills he could rely on should he somehow lose his spear.


    It''s unfortunate that he hadn''t encountered any other spear warriors in the tutorial yet or he could have some extra spears to keep in his inventory should such a situation arise.


    He skipped this skill as he didn''t even consider it, leaving the final skill out of the five for him to inspect.


    <strong>[5. Fire bolt (Umon) {This skill is an upgrade to the user''s own [Mana Bolt] skill, if chosen, the original skill will disappear and be reced with this.} - A more advanced magic bolt involving the element of fire. Launches a great ball of fire upon use and explodes upon impact, inflicting me damage as well as AOE damage to any surrounding enemies. Mana cost: 300 MP.]</strong>


    Lumen was torn between picking the Spear technique or this Fire bolt. On the one hand, his overall damage with his spear would increase by 10%, quite a considerable boost that would make arge difference in battle.


    On the other hand, he could get a definitive upgrade to his Mana bolt, which even unupgraded had saved his life many times and was one of his most powerful techniques.


    After a few minutes of weighing the pros and cons, Lumen eventually decided to choose the Fire bolt spell. His main reason being that he suspected he could kill any beast under level 15 with ease even without the boost to his spearmanship now that he had reached level 10.


    However he still had no clue how powerful the boss of the dungeon would be and so he wanted a powerful skill that dealt a considerable amount of damage.

 Chapter 39: Testing the new skill

    <h4>Chapter 39: Testing the new skill</h4>


    Now that Lumen was in possession of a new spell, as well as being level 10, he felt invincible!


    But he knew that this feeling was only temporary and that he would soon get a reality check once he explores the dungeon further and encounters stronger rabid wolves.


    He felt that he could handle anything up to level 15 with some ease but past that point he had no gauge of their power and so he would have to act with caution if he encountered anything past that level.


    Now that Lumen had finished inspecting his new skills, he decided to clean up his surroundings.


    Below himy the carcass of the level 10 rabid wolf which had been alive only minutes before. He didn''t even spare the time to transfer it to his inventory as he was too focused on the new option of choosing a skill upon reaching level 10.


    He was honestly a little disappointed in the options the system gave to him as he was kind of expecting some big and powerful skill due to how his ss epassed such a wide range of specialisations, as well as the fact that it provides so many statspared to normal basic sses.


    But he was otherwise happy with the upgrade to his mana bolt skill and was looking forward to testing it out in battle, even if using it just once used up a little over a quarter of his total mana.


    And as if they could hear his thoughts, two level 10 rabid wolves came out of the shadows nearby inspecting the scene before them carefully. It seemed that Lumen was too slow with his clean up process as they were attracted by the scent of blood and death of their now deadpanion.


    Upon seeing the dead body of a wolf they considered a brother to them, they growled and roared furiously as they started sprinting towards Lumen, rapidly closing the over 100 metre gap between them.


    Lumen didn''t feel anxious or scared at the pursuit of two level 10 wolves as he had just received a powerup and was now the same level as them.


    This would be nothing like the fight he just had with that lone level 10 wolf!


    He only felt excitement and expectation as the perfect opportunity to test out his new spell had just presented itself to him!


    At this point, the wolves were just walking experience to Lumen as he felt nothing from killing them, and this didn''t change when he activated his [Fire bolt] skill for the first time.


    What urred after the activation could only be described as spectacr!


    Out of seemingly nowhere, a mass of fiery energy formed above his hand, taking the same shape as the sun as a ball of raging mes now floated above his palm.


    Strangely, Lumen didn''t even feel a little heat from the spell as it didn''t affect him at all.


    Whether this was due to some system magic or due to some inherent universalws around magic, he didn''t know, nor did he particrly care as all of his attention and excitement was focused on the power of the spell in his palm and without hesitationunched it towards the wolves, even with them being over 50 metres away.


    It seemed that the spell description was iplete in the skill selection list, as once he had acquired the skill he had nced at the description out of habit and managed to find that a new section had been added onto it.


    <strong>[Fire bolt (Lv.1 0%)(Umon): A more advanced magic bolt involving the element of fire. Launches a great ball of fire upon use and explodes upon impact, inflicting me damage as well as AOE damage to any surrounding enemies. Mana cost: 300 MP, has a starting range of 100 metres, increasing with each level up.]</strong>


    His skill now had a range of 100 metres, dwarfing that of his previous mana bolt''s range of a pitiful 15 metres!


    Now he could truly see why beings at level 9 were practically iparable to those of level 10 under normal circumstances.


    Focusing back on the fight, the fire bolt also seemed to have gained some speed and precision as it shot at twice the speed his mana bolt used to, and much more precisely as in 50 metres, it hadn''t deviated even a little from it''s original trajectory.


    Everything so far about this skill made Lumen''s smile bloom even wider as he realised the facts behind his new most powerful skill.


    However upon seeing the fire bolt impact one of the wolves, the cherry on top had been added to his satisfaction in choosing this skill.


    The wolf that had been impacted, was no where to be seen. Whereas the other wolf around 5 metres to it''s side had beenunched with great force away and had severe sixth degree burns, reaching all the way down to the poor wolf''s bone.


    The only mercy it had received was that it had died almost instantly, not experiencing any of the intense pain that would have followed the intense explosion.


    Lumen stood there with a smile that could creep even the most edgy of denizens out as his eyes betrayed his stupefaction.


    <i>''This spell is practically OP! If every mage is this powerful then how will the physical sses be able topete....''</i>


    Lumen was feeling bad for any physical sses that had to fight against mages with spells like this in their arsenal.


    However what he failed to take into ount due to his intense emotional fluctuations was the fact that his fire bolt spell was four times as powerful as the fire bolt that other mages would be offered, all due to the fact that he had the miraculous talent ''Perfect mana conduit''.


    Lumen didn''t even bother going over to collect the remains of the wolves'' bodies as quite frankly, neither of them was worth taking up a slot in his limited inventory.


    One wolf was reduced to just a blood stain on the floor, and the other was charred down to the bone, little edible meat left on it''s body...


    Hence Lumen didn''t even give them a second nce as he turned down another path in the expanse of the cave in search of more poor wolves to victimise.

 Chapter 40: Elite Rabid wolf

    <h4>Chapter 40: Elite Rabid wolf</h4>


    Armed with his new skill, Lumen trudged on through more caverns as he kept his eye out for any potential kills and any ''walking experience'' he could gain.


    While he was walking, it didn''t take long before a cacophony of booms and loud growling and roaring could be hearding from far ahead of him.


    Curious about what could be going on for the rabid wolves to be making such a ruckus in their own territory, Lumen estimated the distance between him and the source of the noise to be over a kilometre.


    Faced with such a gap between them, Lumen knew that the wolves couldn''t possibly know that he was near, not if they were near his level at least.


    He didn''t waste any time as he ran for a whole minute before he entered within 100 metres of the noise.


    As he arrived, he began to feel a sense of threat to his life for the first time since his fight with the two level 9 wolves.


    He felt some danger in his battle with the lone level 10 wolf, but not a threat to his life.


    However this time was different, he felt a real threat to his life within the vicinity as if he had gained a sixth sense unknowingly at some point.


    But he didn''t focus on the source of this sense as his attention was now on the scene in the cavern in front of him.


    Ahead of him, 6 level 10 rabid wolves were fighting against a lone wolf that had an appearance simr to them, however this one had streaks of dark, ck tinges of hair all over it''s spine and paws. Not to mention that this wolf was about 1.5x bigger than the wolves surrounding it.


    It had a distinct look, different enough from those of the surrounding wolves to be easily noticeable among the bunch even from Lumen''s location in the low light of the cave.


    The sense of threat to his life didn''te from the group of level 10 wolves, but rather the lone wolf that was ganged up on by them.


    And upon using his inspection, he could see why.


    <strong>[Rabid Wolf (Elite) - level 12]</strong>


    He had never heard of an elite beast before, nor did he have any clue as to how powerful they could be or what made them special from their normal beast counterparts.


    But one thing he did know is that this wolf could take out each level 10 wolf surrounding it and survive to tell the tale with only a few wounds.


    Lumen was practically drooling from just thinking about the rewards he could get from killing such a beast, especially considering that it was apletely new specimen that he hadn''t ever encountered before.


    He didn''t doubt that he would get some special rewards for killing this elite monster.


    But he didn''t let his greed and emotions cloud his judgement as his logic took over to analyse the situation before him.


    <i>''Realistically, it would be suicide for me to just intrude on this fight right now. The most likely scenario would be that the 6 level 10 wolves would team up with that elite to get rid of me before going back to their own internal conflict.''</i>


    <i>''My best choice right now would be to observe the situation and assess the best opportunity to attack. The most opportune time for me to attack would be right as the elite kills the final level 10, as it would let it''s guard down to heal and regain stamina and mana. Right then would be the perfect time for me to attack.''</i>


    With his n of action in mind, he made some stealthy moves to inch closer to the battlefield to both get a better view and the better position himself for a surprise attack.


    Back in the fight between wolves, it seemed that the Elite wolf had more intelligence than those level 10''s around it, as it actually made proper use of it''s paws and ws in a fight rather than just it''s razor sharp teeth.


    The other 6 wolves could hardly get in a proper attack on the Elite and the rare times they did, they were only superficial wounds that barely reached the surface of any muscle.


    At this rate, it wouldn''t take long for the Elite to take out the 6 wolves surrounding it as it had already severely injured 2 wolves, taking them out of the fight and leaving them whimpering on the side lines, licking their wounds.


    However when all things looked bad, one of the level 10 wolves managed to sneak it''s way around the back of the Elite and used all of it''s strength and agility to take a bite at it''s hind leg, where it''s tendonsy.


    A deafening howl came out of the Huge wolf''s mouth as it entered an enraged state and whipped it''s body around towards the wolf currently hanging off it''s hind leg.


    It used all of it''s extremely powerful biting force to dig into the smaller wolf''s chest area. With it''s sheer power alone, it managed to bite half of the poor dog''s chest clean off, taking many vital organs with it.


    This level 10 wolf was practically done for, but it seemed to contain a praiseworthy willpower as it still clung onto the Elite wolf''s leg tendon with all of it''s power.


    Through sheer willpower and with it''s final death throes, the level 10 wolf managed to mp it''s jaw down to the limit, breaking it in the process but achieving it''s goal.


    Limply, the wolf fell down onto it''s side in a puddle of it''s own blood and guts. But in it''s final honourable moments it had managed to take a considerable amount of leg with it from the Elite, hindering it''s movements greatly.


    Lumen could only cheer and give a silent prayer to this wolf for it''s bravery and willpower as he was genuinely impressed at how it dealt with the Elite in it''s final moments.


    It didn''t whimper like it''s injuredpanions, nor did it let out any final howls in contempt before it''s life left it.


    It simply did it''s best to get it''s revenge on the Elite and in the end, it somewhat seeded.


    Such a show of power and tenacity by the level 10 wolf gave Lumen the perfect opportunity to strike, and he took it right at that moment, ignoring his n to strike when the Elite had it''s guard down.


    Striking now when it was injured was a much better option, and he had the perfect way to clear the other level 10 wolves of the fight, making sure he doesn''t have any annoying wolves interrupting his fight with the Elite.


    All of this was made possible by that one brave level 10 wolf.


    If Lumen managed toe out of this fight on top, he would give that wolf a proper burial. It had earned it.

 Chapter 41: Going on the offensive

    <h4>Chapter 41: Going on the offensive</h4>


    Lumen didn''t hesitate in his actions as he immediately activated his new most powerful skill.


    <strong>[Fire bolt]</strong>


    Just like his first time using it, the speed it flew was iparable to that of the wolves'' running speed, leaving them no time to react as it had already arrived right in front of them by the time they had even managed to turn around.


    The scene with the remaining 5 level 10''s was the same as his first time using the skill, the injured wolf being vaporised on the spot, helpless to defend while the other 4 were knocked back and killed instantly from the resulting st and burns.


    The level 12 Elite Rabid wolf was unlike the other wolves as it had only been sted a few metres from it''s original spot, and had onlye out of the fiery explosion with a few cuts and burns.


    Lumen took a quick look at his system notifications to make sure that the other 5 weaker wolves were in fact dead, and when he saw the 5 confirmed kills alongside a level up to level 11 he closed the interface in an instant, not reacting to the level up at all as he was focused solely on the surviving Elite wolf ahead of him.


    The Elite still managed to stand tall with it''s prideful look on it''s face as it wore it''s dashing ck streaks of fur all over it''s body. Unlike humans, it didn''t have any protective equipment, no weapons and yet it had withstood the full power attack of Lumen and came out looking like it was already victorious.


    The wolf began to growl and roar lowly as if it was talking to Lumen, but he doubted they were words spoken from intelligence as his Akashic Languages skill would have most likely tranted it.


    He had made the guess that higher level beasts could develop intelligence simr to humans through his observations of the wolves so far, as they had already showed signs of that rather than the normal mindless savage behaviour of the other beasts he had killed outside the dungeon.


    Lumen''s nerves remained tightened as he listened to the Elite wolf''s growls, his senses honed to their limits as the threat of death still remained even after his surprise attack. The wolf also clearly knew where Lumen was hiding, so he didn''t waste time couching behind his rock as he walked out into the open, keeping his eye on the wolf at all times.


    Not wanting to let the wolf get the better of him, Lumenunched hoisted his spear into an offensive stance and approached the wolf with speed.


    His spear scratched and screeched against the wolf''s skin when it made contact, as if it was metal scraping against metal. It was just like the fight with the level 13 deer, but this wolf''s skin seemed to be even more dense than the skin of that deer.


    Cold sweat drenched Lumen''s back as he backed off, sprinting aside as he kept his spear in an attack ready position at all times.


    But it wasn''t like there was no hope for Lumen, as although his spear failed to prate through the wolf''s incredibly dense skin, he had still left a reasonable dent in it''s skin, clearly thinning that particryer where he had struck.


    This would be an intense battle of attrition, and both parties knew it.


    The wolf stayed on the defensive for the time being due to its injuries, particrly the injury dealt to it''s hind leg by the level 10 wolf earlier.


    Lumen once again dove forward, sliding his spear through the air at the wolf, attempting to strike the same spot he had before.


    However this wolf was more intelligent than any other beast he hade across before as it saw through his attempts almost immediately and moved itself aside slightly, having his spear strike it''s chest area instead of it''s shoulder.


    <i>''Dammit, how can this wolf still be so strong even after withstanding my Fire bolt and even that injury hindering it''s movements? Could this be the real strength of Elite beasts?''</i>


    It was at this moment that Lumen was beginning to rethink whether he would really be able to take on this dungeon, his expectations of defeating the boss quenched when he couldn''t even deal with a level 12 Elite.


    <i>''What kind of stupid system is this, capping the entry requirements off at a lone level 10 challenger? Clearly one needs a group of people at the same level as me to bring down something like this Elite, let alone the boss of this dungeon...''</i>


    Lumen''s resentment wasn''t towards the wolf in front of him but the system that had mislead him into challenging this dungeon.


    <i>''Forget it! Focus, Lumen.''</i>


    His offensive continued, with his spear being blocked every time but dealing superficial damage and wounds each time. Over time, these wounds began to stack and it was bing difficult for the wolf to block or deflect all of his attacks, until eventually after a gruelling 10 minute long stalemate, Lumen managed to break through it''s skin for the first time.


    He had finally dealt numbers of damage in the thousands rather than hundreds. But this was still not enough to take out the wolf''s near two hundred thousand health.


    If his Basic Identify skill was a higher level, he would be able to see the wolf''s total health. But for his confidence and willpower it was probably best that he couldn''t see how insignificant his attack had been.


    Lumen made sure to back away from the wolf with a flip, keeping his centre of gravity in control as hended on his feet, his spear still focused on his target.


    <i>''I can still win this fight! My mana has finally gone back above 75% capacity since using [Fire bolt], I guess it''s time I amp up the power of my attacks again.''</i>


    Lumen maintained his strength and focus on the wolf, relieved that it was still defensive and hadn''t chosen to attack back yet.


    But it was a matter of time before it decided to once it''s injuries healed to a sufficient enough point.


    <strong>[Mana reinforcement]</strong>


    Lumen finally decided to power up his attacks with his spear, the familiar blue glow surrounding his spear as he pushed his body to it''s limits with his legs straining from the pressure of the speed he was exerting.


    The Elite wolf wasn''t expecting him to suddenly increase his speed so much, and the ominous blue glow on his spear that wasn''t there before wasn''t a good omen either.


    Suddenly, it decided to go onto the offensive for the first time, meeting Lumen''s attack in mid air.


    A small shockwave of blue and ck mana reverberated throughout the cavern, sending both parties flying.

 Chapter 42: Desperate situation

    <h4>Chapter 42: Desperate situation</h4>


    The shockwave sent reverberations all throughout the cave. Both Lumen and the Elite wolf were sent flying dozens of metres from their original spots.


    <i>''What the f*ck was that ck mana??''</i>


    All Lumen could think about was the scene of the wolf suddenly going onto the offensive at thest moment and counter attacking his own mana reinforcement skill.


    This was the first time he had encountered a situation like this, no beast he had fought so far had the ability to wield mana like humans do, which left an extremely bad taste in his mouth now that he had been caught off guard by one that could.


    He had been ignorant to think that only humans were able to wield magic, and now he was suffering for it.


    Lumen''s thoughts suddenly came to a halt as hey there on the ground, knocked out by his impact on the cave wall behind him.


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


    2 hourster, in the same cave.


    <i>''Ugh.... what is this pain?!!''</i>


    Lumen awoke from his forced slumber on the cold and hard rocky cave floor.


    He opened his eyes in a numb state as he took note of the blurry, haired figure standing over his legs.


    As his eyes regained their rity, he quickly identified the haired figure as a level 9 rabid wolf, who just happened to be chewing on a piece of Lumen''s leg which had been hanging off after the powerful explosion of mana that caused him to be in this state.


    "Get the f*ck off me you stupid wolf!"


    Seeing the low levelled wolf gnawing happily at his leg, a burst of rage came from the depths of his stomach as he practically roared at the wolf.


    Unable to stand due to his injuries, Lumen looked all around him for his spear, thankfully finding it lying within reach of his head.


    In one swift motion, he lifted the spear and powered by all of his upper body strength, he stabbed the wolf straight through its eye, not giving it a chance to defend.


    Once he had dealt with that minor nuisance, he fished out a healing potion from his inventory and gulped the whole thing down in one swig, not wasting a single drop.


    He also made sure to cast [Basic Heal] on himself to heal his wounds enough for him to be in a fighting stance again.


    Once he managed to get back on his feet, he inspected his surroundings with caution.


    He found that other than that lone level 9 rabid wolf, the only other living presence he noticed within the vicinity was the unconscious Elite wolf lying over a hundred metres away from him.


    Joy filled Lumen as he realised that he had managed to escape death not only from a measly level 9 rabid wolf, but also from the level 12 Elite wolf who seemed to be also have been veryrgely impacted by the explosion of mana. Even with it''s mighty defence, it still didn''t manage to withstand the shock enough to stay conscious.


    But the most joy he felt was from the fact that he was the first to wake up out of the two, meaning that he had the perfect opportunity to finish the job as the wolf was practically offered on a tter to him in this state.


    He stealthily approached the beast as he didn''t want to risk awakening it before he could even get an attack in, not wanting to waste the one opportunity he was given to defeat the beast.


    As he approached, the threat of death was still lingering in the air between them, which confused Lumen a little bit but he threw his questions aside as he just assumed that it still lingered due to the beast not being dead yet.


    In a short time from awakening, he had already arrived next to the beast as he prepared his strongest strike, the [Fire bolt] skill to attempt to finish the Elite Rabid wolf off once and for all.


    Suddenly, just as he was about to deliver the finishing blow, the Elite wolf sped it''s eyes open and jumped from it''s spot in an instant before Lumen could even cast his spell.


    It was almost like the wolf had anticipated Lumening over to deliver an attack while it was ''unconscious'', whichpletely caught him off guard.


    He was the one who fell for a trap, not the wolf.


    <i>''Sh*t!''</i> Was all he could think before the wolf''s ws came crashing down onto his chest, causing him to cough up arge amount of blood and be unable to stand.


    Thankfully, the effects of his heal spell and healing potion still lingered as he had used them not long ago.


    However he was still in a dire state and if he couldn''t escape or defeat this Elite wolf, then it was safe to say that he was done for.


    Realising how serious his situation was, he threw all caution to the wind and decided to use his [Fire bolt] skill even at such a close range, knowing that he would suffer from the explosion as well.


    He didn''t waste any time in conjuring the skill as in less than a second, a miniature sun was floating above his palm, waiting for Lumen to send to to it''s intended target.


    The Elite wolf was about to attack once more when it noticed the intense heat and lighting from Lumen''s hands, and once it noticed what he was nning on doing, it immediately halted it''s trajectory and hurriedly tried to flee away from where Lumen was aiming.


    This somewhat benefited Lumen as the more distance there was put between them, the less the explosion would affect him.


    He sent the powerful fireball flying towards the wolf, praying that it hit it''s target.


    A loud bang and the explosion ensued, sending dust and debris flying all over the ce as Lumen concentrated his gaze from his kneeling position, focused on the cloud of smoke where the Elite wolf just was.


    There as no movements and silence ensued as the smoke still lingered in the area, no breeze or wind being present in the cave to dissipate it quickly.


    Lumen knew that it wasn''t dead yet, he had yet to receive any notifications from the system regarding it''s death so he knew it was still alive, he was just hoping his attack had at least severely injured it.


    But when the smoke dissipated, the wolf was still standing there staring at Lumen with vigor in it''s eyes.


    It had clearly been injured by the attack as it was limping with it''s hind leg now dangling by a thread of skin.


    But it wasn''t enough as the beast knew it was at danger of dying, and stopped all of its defensive measures, opting to gopletely on the offensive.


    Lumen stood there, knowing how his mana was almost spent, only enough for a single mana reinforcement on his spear.


    He simply sighed and fell back down onto his knees, epting his fate.


    The wolf saw him ept his death and didn''t slow it''s sprint down at all, rapidly nearing in on him until only 10 metres separated the two.


    It was in this moment of eptance that Lumen had an epiphany.


    <i>''How have I been so stupid, how did I not think of this before...''</i>


    A distant memory unearthed itself from the depths of his mind as he attempted to do something he had never done before.


    <strong>[New skill created!]</strong>


    <strong>[Obtained skill: Fire infusion]</strong>


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