Chương 51: (Book 2 Chapter 2)

Merged with four other planets…? I went through the system's message quickly, committing it to memory, before dismissing it. I had something far more urgent to do before thinking about the latest message. I got up and looked around, trying to make sense of where the system had unceremoniously deposited me. It was evening, and seemed to be exactly the time it had been inside the tutorial. I found myself in familiar and yet, utterly unfamiliar surroundings.

The road made of concrete was familiar, and so were the cars all over the road. The apartment buildings looked familiar as well. Everything seemed familiar, in the sense that I could recognize that it was a road, and those were cars, and that I was in the middle of buildings. Everything else was the unfamiliar part. Firstly, I couldn't recognize the neighborhood. Fair enough, I wasn't familiar with every single neighborhood, so this was expected.

Secondly, everything was covered with nature, like years had passed here instead of the few days that we had spent in the tutorial. Thirdly, the nature was anything but normal. Thick, purple vines were wrapped around all the buildings and cars in sight. The buildings were ruins, with broken windows and gaping holes present everywhere. Some of the holes looked clean, like something had removed a part of the building with surgical precision without damaging anything.

Others looked like impacts that something huge must have made. Bright red and orange flora could be seen poking out of some windows, contrasting heavily against the dark purple vines. Luckily, there was nothing moving as far as I could see. I did not remember exactly when, but sometime during my gawking of the surroundings I had gotten up to my feet.

Figuring out that being smack dab in the center of the street was probably not a great idea, I moved towards the building to my right, as it was covered in fewer vines than the one on the left. I crept up to the doorway, which was just a hole in the wall; the doors not present at all. I looked inside, and apart from a thick layer of dust, everything seemed normal. Looking around once again, I activated concealed presence and then stepped within the building.

My first step was tense, and I paused as soon as my foot had touched the floor. I waited, but thankfully, nothing happened. I took another step inside, and paused again. My slow and stressful steps were met with nothing apart from a gentle breeze flowing in from the open doorway. Taking a mental sigh of relief, I stepped further in and looked around.

It seemed like it had been a generic apartment building, with mirrors right in front of the door which were once probably pristinely clean, but were now covered in dirt and dust. To the left, a small hallway was present, leading towards two elevators. I went towards the elevators to see if they were running, but the floor indicator light was off. I tried pressing the button, but nothing happened. Looked like there was no electricity.

Is that because the power generators ran out, or did the terraforming damage the power grid? Or… does the system just not allow electricity…? I had thought coming back to Earth would lead to fewer questions, not more… The hallway ended with a door that led to the stairs. I placed my back on the wall right beside the door to the stairs, and slid down. Letting go of concealed presence, I started thinking about the short but full of information system message.

The fact that it mentioned Earth being merged with four other planets had a few strong implications. It was now probable that we would be running into various other races, whether they were sapient or not remained to be seen. I wasn't sure how the merge even took place. Was there a boundary where one planet ended and the other began, or was the whole planet just one big patchwork of five different planets now. Conversely, how large was the planet now, if it had been merged with four others?

I went towards the entrance of the building once again and peeked out, but couldn't quite see the sun as it was hidden behind the buildings. However, the sun's light felt normal… Then again, the sun felt 'normal' in th e tutorial as well… Thinking about the planet at large and whether or not it was the same sun as before was a waste of time right now. I went back to my spot and sat back down again, focusing on the things that immediately mattered.

The message said it had placed the people in the same tutorial close to each other. But was that close in human terms or in system terms? Like how the base in the tutorial had been a 'Safe Area' based on statistics instead of being actually safe. For me, close would be in the same neighbourhood. But for the system, close could mean a hundred miles away, especially if the planet had increased in size due to the merger. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

I'll have to do a quick sweep of the area soon. I might get some answers. The system message had conveniently left out a key thing – what dangers would be present here. Were monsters going to be present here like in the tutorial, or would we have to contend with flora and fauna native to the five planets that had merged? The system message did say one thing, that almost guaranteed that there would be dangers here.

It had said 'continue to adapt and grow', which was almost exactly what it had said at the beginning of the tutorial. Does that mean that the system had planned something, like it had planned in the tutorial? This is frustrating… I had just begun to have a semblance of a plan on my path forward in the tutorial, when all that had been thrown away. Now, I was back in square one, with more questions in mind than ever before.

There were so many things left unfinished in the tutorial as well, like the fact that I had a 20% boost to skills unlocking during the tutorial. I felt like I had been so close to getting a wind bullet skill, but now I would have to put in extra work not only to unlock it, but for any other skills I would try to get. I had a sudden thought, and immediately pulled up my status. Looking over it, nothing major had changed apart from my level now being 15.

I looked back towards the title 'Pioneer', and thought about equipping it. Instantly, a rush of energy swept through me, disappearing as quickly as it came. Looking back over my Status, I now had 14 free stat points. Going with my plan, I distributed four each to Dexterity and Perception, and three each to Wisdom and Intelligence. Feeling the intoxicating feeling of my stats going up, I admired my status once again.

Name: Alex Grant Race: Human Age: 24 Level: 15 Exp: 457/800 Grade: E Class: Assassin Health: 150/150 Stamina: 98/100 Mana: 195/195 Regenerations: Health: 10/min Stamina: 10/min Mana: 13/min Attributes: Strength: 10 (1) Agility: 33 (3) Dexterity: 21 (3+2) Endurance: 10 (1) Vitality: 10 (1) Intelligence: 13 (1) Wisdom: 13 (1) Perception: 16 (4+2) Free Stat Points: 0 Ability: Subtle Influence Skills: Active: Concealed Presence, Critical Sense, Quick Step, Mana Sense, Internal Mana Manipulation, Universal Language Passive: Tactical Insight Titles: Pioneer (equipped) Wealth: 36 Gold, 7 Silver, 3 Bronze Feeling pleased at my growth, I almost missed it but a second glance confirmed it.

The bonus stats from the title did not affect either my resources or my regenerations. My Vitality and Endurance were both at 11 now, so Health should have been 165, while both Health and Stamina regenerations should have been 11/min. Instead, they remained unaffected by the bonus stats from my title, which didn't make sense to me. Shrugging it off as yet another perplexing thing about the system, my eyes went to my wealth.

It had shot up considerably, mostly owing to the 25 gold coins reward the end of the tutorial had granted. I closed down the status and opened the system store in excitement, eager to see if it had any new additions. No. Nothing new had been added. Sighing in disappointment, I closed down the store, and instead opened my inventory. I knew about the blue chest I had seen earlier, the one I had gotten from killing the ogre in the main hut.

In addition to that, I noticed the three new inventory slots I had gained, but my attention was grabbed by the slot which contained a new chest, and this one was glowing purple! I felt my heart start beating in excitement, but I controlled myself. That box was probably from the boss, and I was beyond excited to open it. However, I chose to open the blue one first. Should get the appetizer out of the way before the main course! Without preamble, the chest arrived in front of me, opened, and vanished.

I opened my inventory to see two new items. The first one was another ring, and I selected it, making it appear on my hand. It was similar to the one I was already wearing, and a system screen appeared as soon as I focused on it. Ring of Mana Regeneration +2 Mana Regeneration/min Nice! I slid it on, and checked that my mana regeneration was now at 15/min. Next, I opened my inventory again and took out a familiar looking stone, immediately prompting a system screen.

Would you like to use Stat Enhancement Stone (Uncommon)? Oh! I thought it was a Skill Stone! Looking at the stone closely, which was quite difficult considering there was a system screen in front of me, I did notice a slight change. The Skill Stones had always been hexagonal, while this one was a pentagon. Other than that, it looked the same plain black stone with weird, glowing markings all over. Curiosity settled, I mentally affirmed my intention of using the stone.

You have used the Stat Enhancement Stone (Uncommon). You have gained 3 stat points in Vitality. Nice! Pleased with the rewards, I focused on the next chest, the purple one. Taking it out, the chest was amazingly more intricate than the rare one. It was still wood, but the wood felt dense, like it had its own presence. Moreover, there were intricate glowing purple markings all over the chest, the symbols somewhat resembling those on the skill or stat stones. I focused on the chest, prompting the system.

Would you like to open Boss Loot Box (Epic)?