Chapter 71: [The ‘Tutorial’]

[Mark's POV!]'Something is there.'

I couldn't help but feel that way, as I observed the long hallway from where Luke was coming from. He ran frantically with tears and terror on his face, his arms scarred and a desperate attempt of escape from whatever was following him.

I charged my bow with a bit of mana, and then pulled it extra hard for some speed. Since my arrow could hit anything I wanted to without missing the shot, I aimed at the 'invisible' being following Luke.

-Shot!

The arrow left at an insane speed crossing Luke by a hair's length away before it reached the empty area behind him. And then…

-SCREEEETCH!!!!

A loud scream came from just behind Luke as a monster in the shape of a bat appeared. He was badly wounded by the arrow that I hit it with, as it wriggled and struggled on the ground.

-Blast!

And Alice aimed at that bat with her improved fireball, blasting it into pieces as it screamed even more before dying completely.

"What happened?" Alex asked as he caught Luke, before he checked his body. Observing carefully, his eyes which were previously red, were now returning to normal now. Alex looked at Luke's shadow with a narrowed gaze before turning back to Luke and asking again,

"You okay buddy? Never knew you had fans in this place."

Luke slowly stood up, as he took a deep breath. His eyes were still shaking as he turned to Alex and spoke,"it's… not that. There is something worse… down there."

Our eyes turned even more serious as we looked at each other before Alice asked,"Something worse?"

"They are… blergh… blergh…" Luke vomited out blood as Alex helped him keep his stance, before he continued,"… they are using female vampires for… pleasure there… and the kids too."

A horror ensued as we widened our eyes before looking in the direction where Luke came from.

…

[Avida's POV!]

"Everything is locked. All the gates, windows, everything. The barrier prevents anyone from exiting the castle," I finished my report on what I found on my investigation. The look on everyone's faces was serious as Boss then told us what she saw.

"Damn! So it's a horror themed tutorial? I totally wanted an adventure fantasy setting," Levi complained as he seemed really upset with this. He then looked at Boss before speaking,

"I tried talking with the guards but they didn't tell me anything. Just mundane things like how this city is the last human city and bull crap. I wanted to press a bit more, but before I could do so, that saintess called us out and we had to go."

"So a dead end, huh? What should we do now?" Invar asked as he seemed to be enjoying this situation as well. Oh well… he would be fine anywhere as long as that place isn't too monotonous.

"We will continue our investigation within the castle. There should be something that would help us understand the complete situation of the castle and the stories behind it," Boss spoke as we all nodded. I wanted to take a break for god's sake but it seems like we won't be getting any sleep tonight.

Oh well. Survival takes priority over everything.

"But before that. Since you are here, you probably have found something," Boss spoke as she then turned around, towards the direction of the balcony. And though I was confused for a few seconds, I saw that bastard's face again, before a sudden mixed feeling appeared in my mind.

"Adrian!" Levi spoke as he looked at that guy dressed in black, while Invar just kept smiling.

"Sharp as ever as Boss," he spoke as he removed his mask and then stretched before speaking,"I came here because I thought I could use some man power. How would you guys like to bring this entire castle into shambles?"

A devil-like smile was present on his face.

…

[Julia's POV!]

"Let's go," Samantha spoke as we all got ready to escape this place. What happened tonight somehow made us all feel uneasy about the entire situation. It wasn't just what happened with the prince and all, but what Emily told us after we entered our room.

That prince's titles showed [Mass Murderer] and [Heretic!]. Along with his class being [Devourer!].  We could honestly be entirely wrong about the situation, but it would be better to stay outside the castle and handle the situation than stay inside here.

We girls took our things and began moving in the direction to the main gate of the castle. There were many guards on our way that looked at us for a few seconds before continuing to do their own work. Ignoring them, we moved faster and reached the main gate.

Though…

[The gate is blocked by a Holy Energy Barrier! You do not have the key to exit the gate barrier!]

Our eyes narrowed at that barrier. As I was wondering what we should do now, Samantha charged her spear to full power before pointing at the barrier and…

-BOOOOM!!!!!

There was smoke around the area where Samantha just hit the barrier, though as it got cleared… there was not a single dent on it. I saw Samantha narrowing her eyes at that barrier before she closed her eyes as if thinking about the situation.

I looked at the Guards outside, standing still without doing anything. It's as if they had already predicted this to happen. They nonchalantly stood there without making any movements, while we observed the surroundings outside the gate.

"Oh my! Just what is going on here? Why are the heroes trying to break the God's Barrier that protects us from those filthy beings of darkness?" And a feminine voice came from behind, as we all turned around, only to find two twin girls standing there with each having a scythe in their hand.

They wore a similar attire like the saintess from before, except it wasn't covering all of their bodies. Just their private parts a bit around them. To be fair, the only similarity with the saintess' outfit was the matching colors.

"Guys… they are bad news…" and Emily warned as she prepared her weapon against the twins. While the rest of us slowly moved into formation.

"This is fun. I don't think the prince would mind if some of them are missing a leg or two, right?" The other twin spoke as she laughed at us with an evil smile.

…

[Clair/ First Floor Administrator's POV!]

I sat on the couch opposite to that Half Giant, the Tutorial's Administrator. He sipped some tea as he was quite relaxed despite all the things that I have notified him about. The mana surge, the abnormalities that I found and a couple more things of importance. Sёarᴄh the ηovёlFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Though he didn't seem to be taking any of that as a note of importance at all.

"Miss Clair. Firstly, thank you for coming all the way here to explain all the things you found. I know it must have been hard to leave your own floor at the cost of plausibility. Really thank you," he spoke as he put the cup down before continuing to speak,

"But let me ask you this. Do you know what a tutorial is?"

"A place for growth of those who will reach the highest of the tower? A chance for the players to change their fate before they enter the tower?" I spoke as I looked at him. The value of the tutorial was immense for both the players and the natives of the tower. There was much more to it, but with respect to the tower, this was the most important.

"Well. You aren't wrong about the reason tutorial exists. But that's not what I asked. I asked you what exactly is a 'Tutorial'? I am talking about the worlds that the [Players] visit? Their natives, their stories… what do you think about that?" He asked again as he looked through the window, at the empty plains and the blue skies.

It was beautiful scenery. But my mind was fixated on the question he asked.

Let's see. The tutorial's world, huh? Each time a tutorial took place, a new world was involved. A new planet. A new story. I have often heard from players how they saved the villagers, humans, lizardmens, etc.

Some save dragons while others kill them. It was ever changing.

"The Tutorial is another world where the players are summoned?" I asked as I looked at him and he smiled as he spoke,

"Maybe? It's not a wrong answer but that's not all there is to a Tutorial."

He then continued with a solemn look on his face,

"The best answer I can give you is, a dying world."

My eyes widened.

"You see, the first 3 tutorials, the dying world is the [Players] own world. They survive and grow there. We, or the tower, don't kill the world to be fair. Their world has always been destined to die one way or another. Natural disasters? Alien Invasion?

Dimensional Invasion? It could happen anyway. The tower simply gives a second chance to those who deserve it."

He stood up and then began walking towards the balcony as he continued,

"The reason [Players] can earn points in those worlds is because they are the natives of their world. And for each time they prevent an invasion or kill a monster, the power becomes the player's own, in the form of points. And honestly, only their native world would favor their [Players] with an extraordinary amount of points."

He sighed as he smiled,"that is why, when players kill monsters in the tower, they gain much less than what they earned before. Because, more than half of it is taken by the tower itself to sustain its stability."

My eyes widened as this was the first time I was hearing of it. I wanted to ask a dozen of questions but the first one that came into my mind was,

"Then what about the 4th, 5th and 6th tutorial? What about the skill cards?"

"The world of the second phase tutorial is usually a dying world at war. It's a place where the players are summoned as a sacrificial pawn to be used for the gain of the natives of that world. Though generally, in the end everything ends and the [Players!] come back to life here. In a way, it always follows the 7th law of causality, you know?"

7th Law? When you want to gain something from somewhere, you must provide something of equivalent value in exchange?

"When the summoner is tasked to call the [Players] from the safe zone in the [Tutorial!], it usually goes something along the lines of, 'I want strong beings to come protect our world.' Though a dying a world generally doesn't have enough power to call on strong beings," he sighed as he then added,

"In the end, they could only call mere weak beings who have just entered the tower. So as compensation, the tower makes the wish fair. He takes powers from that world and gives it to the [Players], in a form that the natives can't obtain. And that is through the cards."

So, if strong people were really called with enough power, doesn't that mean the players won't gain anything from that native world?

As if understanding what I was thinking, the admin laughed before speaking,"that is true as well. In fact, there were many cases where the people from the higher floors were forcefully called to another world. Do you know what happened to such worlds?"

I gulped as he looked at me and answered,

"Whenever the world called a being they couldn't handle, 10 out of 9 worlds ended up dying way before their fixed time and the players returned to the tower. As for the rest, the players became the rulers or kings of that world."

"But… What does it have to do with the increased mana in that world? And those abnormalities and such?"I asked as I looked at him, to which he pondered before speaking,

"In my entire 1451 years of life, I have never once seen the Tower making a mistake. Then my guess is… since the next tutorial is being held in such a messed up world, there is a high chance, there is a player or a batch of players among those taking the tutorial that could potentially handle that mess."

"So miss Clair, don't worry too much about it. Because the tower knows how to handle the problems occuring to it. It's very much alive, you see?"