Chương 22

Lotheriel looked in the bright mirror and sighed at his aide.

"Please make the hair blonder."

"My lord, the magic is not taking," the man said with a frown.

"Are you new?" Lotheriel rolled his eyes.

"How do you not know this? You must take the physical dye."

"I'm sorry, my lord. I am new," the aide said, bowing his head.

"Come on. Do not waste any more of my time. Take the dye and have someone instruct you on how this works." Lotheriel looked at the black that was making its way through his hair and waited for the servant to come back. His hair was stubborn, extremely stubborn. But he had an image to uphold. Something vibrated on the old desk in front of him and he picked up a rectangular piece of metal. He put it to his ear. Nothing happened. How does it work again? He brought it in front of his face and squinted at it. Answer.

Stupid human tech. He clicked answer and then brought it to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Are you still having trouble figuring out the human tech?" It was Skullthrax's voice on the other end.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. If this eludes the System, I'll make an exception. I don't like dealing with this technology." Humans were extremely resourceful. To think that they had invented such advanced science. Who knows what they could have achieved if they hadn't been in our lands. Lotheriel heard Skullthrax laugh loudly. He wanted to bash the undead general. After the plan had failed, Lotheriel didn't want this dungeon to last too long. But his appointment would be void if he refused to follow the AI's directives.

He had worked so hard to get this position and exploit it for personal gain that he wasn't gonna just leave it lying there. But Skullthrax had guaranteed him that the humans would all die once his undead boss awakened. Yet it seemed like things had not gone to plan.

"Skullthrax, what are you going to do now?" The elf wasn't in the mood for chitchat, especially on this weird technology. It made him feel uneasy. Something so foreign, so uncanny. So advanced and yet so primitive.

"Your plan for swift conquest has just fallen apart." Lotheriel knew that the Sorvos Empire needed able bodies very fast. Bodies with S-Ranked Skills. That's why the Tutorial had been so generous to the humans — it was to feed them and train them with the very best, just to end their run before they could actually become a problem.

You could perform rituals on Undead that would revive the Skills they had when they were alive — something the Sorvos Empire specialized in — but if the bodies weren't dead and growing in levels… there was a chance that the Sorvos Empire had just armed these Humans to the teeth. The Sorvos Empire's God of Undeath had leaned as much as it could on the System in order for Humans to be modified and able at the start of the Tutorial and for this Tutorial to be as bountiful as possible.

One could have seen that as a strange form of mercy, but the Undead were just about to farm a whole lot of extremely powerful bodies.

"Fear not, friend," General Skullthrax said, now in a serious voice.

"It is just a matter of time before the Sorvos Empire's plans come to fruition. The boss was just one pawn. On the second floor, I have made sure that all the humans will find their demise. But it is important, crucial that the haven falls. Have you been working toward that outcome?"

"Yeah, yeah. The betrayals are all being lined up, outside and inside. There are many A-rankers that want that guy dead in order to gain immortality. There is a triple-S ranker whom I have been keeping off the broadcast who's very eager to lead the army and is much stronger than John."

"John…" The Undead General chewed on the word.

"Do not worry about him. He shall die tonight to our troops. But what about the girl?" Skullthrax asked.

"Everything is going according to plan. People believe she is their hero, so they will let her lead the army. And once they realize that she's a coward — she will feel sick the moment she lays her eyes upon any undead — it will be too late. And you can't imagine just how sick my hidden SSS-Ranker is. The army will break apart and humanity will lose millions of people. So by the time they reach the second floor, only the strongest will remain, and your people can pick them apart and make them into undead.

Please do not drag this beyond the second floor, Skullthrax. These humans, they are so predictable, so boring. I do not want to waste any more time dealing with their tutorial. I want to move on to my next project."

"Of course, my friend," General Skullthrax said.

"I see that you're as able to manipulate the Eye as you've ever been." The Eye, the control that the System AI used to keep track of the Tutorial, of the livestreams, to create narratives.

"The Eye wants, uh, an interested audience, and it approves whatever I suggest that lines up with that. It's not really manipulation if the Eye approves it, right? Right." General Skullthrax growled in satisfaction.

"All right. Let's reconvene after the priest dies," Lotheriel said, and simply ended the call while awkwardly pressing on the small phone in his giant hand. His aide came into the room a few minutes after, and Lotheriel facepalmed, looking at the green dye in his hands.

"Does that look blonde to you? Do I have to do everything myself here?" Lotheriel got up, killing his aide in one swift blow and walking toward the many storage rooms of his villa.

"Someone clean the mess in the dressing room, I'm going live soon. We have the special edition to run. This is not amateur hour." I only had twenty-four hours to save the lion. Actually, less. We met the lion about three hours ago. And now, that meant I had twenty-one hours before the poison killed it. Killed him. The lion was the only thing that could save humanity if an army presented itself to the haven's gates. Havens like this one were large and fortified and had walls.

But unlike undead and monsters, humans could just come in. Sure, killing someone would put you on a wanted list and the System would dish out rewards for those killing you. But the same System was also going to dish out rewards for whoever doomed the fate of hundreds of millions of humans. So that was that. The first thing I did when I heard that the lion — King Pussycat, actually — was going to die: I ran to Bluemont, back at the inn, and shook him out of his drunken stupor.

He popped a small vial from his pocket and downed it in one go. His eyes seemed to clear right after. I explained the situation and he nodded very grimly, saying, "I told you it didn't make sense that the System would let you keep a pet so powerful." He muttered and ushered me once again to a private room. Even though it was early in the morning, people were still partying after the victory. A lot of them, though, were now sleeping drunkenly on the floor, or sat against the walls, or just crumpled over the tables.

"So, kid, here's the first thing you have to do now. You have to register this haven immediately. That will give you bonuses for when the battle comes to our doors." Alice had said the same thing when we arrived.

"How do I do that?" I asked.

"There is a setting. Just think about the haven. It will appear to you. It's very easy." Indeed. As soon as I thought about it, a prompt resounded in my head. Welcome to the Holy City. Would you like to establish the Holy City as your base? Bases cannot be changed until you reach the next floor. I gave my consent and it registered me to it. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Congratulations, you have joined the Holy City. What a name, huh?

It kind of feels like you're joining a cult, if you ask me. Bonus descriptions. The Holy Hand — Attack against the enemies of the haven: +175%. The Holy Armor — Defense against the enemies of the haven: +175%. Dexterity while fighting the enemies of the haven: +25. Mana Regeneration while fighting the enemies of the haven: +300%. Mana Capacity while fighting the enemies of the haven: +100%. I looked at the bonuses. They just kept going on. Completely stunned.

Health Regeneration while fighting the enemies of the haven and while residing in the haven's walls: +500%.

"Holy shit," I muttered.

"Yeah, I asked around," Bluemont said.

"Those bonuses are no joke. And trust me, if they're offering immortality early on, you can count on a lot of people to show up. What a fucking mess. This is the worst tutorial I've seen since— since the day I joined. These boons are much bigger than one would usually expect, but the Tutorial is more dangerous. It all feels out of whack. The balance of this tutorial is completely fucked." I felt my body's need for sleep — which had been suppressed by the wave of adrenaline coursing through it — suddenly reduce.

And that's when I found more bonuses. Stamina Regeneration while inside the haven: +500%. If you spend two hours in the haven, you do not need sleep.

"Holy shit. Bluemont, these bonuses."

"Yeah, kid, I know. That priest is stronger than you might imagine, even though he cannot go out. Actually, it's exactly the reason why the System doesn't want the priest to go out. It had to balance things. If you ask me, it might've been half a mistake.

If that man had decided to fight for himself instead of trying to save everybody, attracting murderers and traitors of your race like flies to shit, he could have been a force so incredibly powerful that by the ninth floor, he might have been the tipping point against the Sorvos Empire. But what do I know?" Bluemont sounded bitter. Yeah, I'm glad you didn't fucking sacrifice hundreds of millions, Bluemont. If you lose against the Sorvos Empire, everybody's dead.

"We'll just try not to lose, then," I replied.

"So what's next? I don't have time." Bluemont looked longingly at the bottle of dark liquor on the table and slapped it away all of a sudden.

"You need to prepare. If you're attacking an undead stronghold, you can expect it to be a fucking nightmare. It's the kind of thing that would come alive at the second floor. That means you're going to find enemies above your level. It kinda feels like a massive trap, if you ask me. But if the lion is actually dying, then that's the only choice. You're not going to stop the damn army that's coming without the beast."

"Okay," I replied quickly.

"So what do I do? What the hell do I do, Bluemont? Just talk to me, please."

"First — you guys mentioned you got lots of materials from the people and the creatures nailed to the walls of the boss's chamber. In this city, they have unlocked a large crafting district. I have no idea how they got so many communal credits, and what the hell the man overseeing it is capable of at this point, but this means you get crafting benches and crafters capable of converting those into the weapons and armor that you need right now."

"Okay," I nodded.

"So — you go wake up the others. You guys have to open all of your chests, and then you have to get new equipment. You need way better armor for each and every one of them, and better weapons. Only Lucas has a good damn weapon. Your spear — if you're going to fight undead, that's crap."

"I mean… thank you."

"And what I don't understand is — where the hell is your Hero's Heart? You saved all these people, and not one, not a single one, even a low-level one, appeared? What a fucking disgrace."

"Wait. What do you mean?" I asked. I was about to bolt out of my chair and go wake up the others, but what Bluemont had just said gave me pause.

"Four havens fell during this little war," Bluemont explained slowly, his words full of venom.

"That means that the count of deaths is extremely high, and that a complete defeat would have meant a real disaster on your hands."

"Okay. So why is that important?" I frowned.

"That is important because you committed a heroic act. You didn't have anything to gain from going to the boss. The System — the Eye — keeps track of this stuff. It's addicted to this kind of narrative. And at the very least, it would have rewarded a small Hero's Heart, which you would have needed to access your damn spear."

"So you actually get a Hero's Heart by doing heroic deeds? Why didn't you tell me before?"

"You didn't have to worry about it. I didn't know you were gonna do all of this. I didn't know it was gonna be such a big shit show that Hero's Hearts were gonna start dropping this early."

"Okay." I frowned.

"So why didn't I get one? And what is a Hero's Heart anyway?"

"A Hero's Heart is an item that empowers those that use it. It's like an accessory that enters your body and powers you up from your heroic deeds. Once you obtain an S-rank weapon, you have to bond it to a specific Hero's Heart."

"Oh," I said.

"So where's mine?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm asking, kid. I have no idea why you have not gotten one yet."

"Okay, so let's forget about this for a second. I'm gonna go and wake up the others, tell them to open our chests — and then, where's the crafting district?"

"I'll point you to it. But I won't come — I have some matters to deal with. I need to gather more information."

"All right. Thank you, Bluemont." I went up and woke the others. Thanks to the blessings of the Holy City, I was only cursed at so much. They were already feeling very rested — it was just the habit of sleeping that made them all grumble. Yet, when I explained the situation, everyone got ready to open their chests. We split to our own rooms for it. Some things you open in private. I checked my inventory, and I found out that I had actually forgotten to open one of my chests before going for the boss.

That was the first chest I opened. You have opened a D-Ranked Showtime Chest. Despite being D-Ranked, the Showtime Chest was lined with what looked like very cheap and tacky gold decorations. Inside, I found a little camcorder. The moment I touched it, though, it dissolved. Item - Exclusive Recorder (Rank - D) - Level 1 You can now create an exclusive stream and manage it yourself. Oh. At first, I was about to discard this information completely and move on. What the hell would I do with an exclusive stream?

But then, I realized what this could be used for. That bastard elf, I thought to myself. He fucked me over. Created a montage that was fake, doctored. But now, with this D-Ranked Showtime Chest reward, I could easily show my side of things at all times. And most importantly, I thought to myself, I didn't need to tell anybody. If the elf didn't know yet, this would be one hell of a weapon. It was a long shot.

I was sure that with the giant production that the elf had over the show, there was a good chance that whatever recording this started, I could— That made me stop. Wait. I checked the streaming page. It was mostly grayed out, with everything blurry but the follower and favorite count, which I had never checked before now.

"Holy fuck," I muttered.

"Followers, two hundred fifty-three billion. Favorites, fifty billion. Holy shit." I knew that this was supposedly a stream for the multiverse, and that it was probably a big stream of sorts, but the whole thing had just started, and I already had fifty billion favorites. How many people were concurrently watching what I did? This was insane. And then I started wondering why exactly it was that the streaming functions were blocked until the second floor specifically.

Was it because you only gained a class when you descended to the second floor? The point was, we were only getting the full array of streaming functions once we got there. But then I looked, and I saw two new buttons appear in my streaming panel. The first said, Go Live, and the second said just, Record. Then I saw that there was a line of text, Recordings, just below. It didn't take a genius to imagine that the recordings part was made so that I could see the things that I had recorded.

Okay, this is very interesting. Several ideas started hatching in my mind, but then I decided to put them away. I still had two chests to go through, and then I had to rush to the crafting district to get equipment made alongside the others, so that we could go assault a damn undead fortress. I opened the D-Ranked Lunatic Chest next. This one had been awarded to me for managing to kill Gnolls at night. Inside, almost as if the System AI had been reading my mind moments before, I found a long piece of wood.

Item - Gnollish Hardwood (Rank - D) - Level 20 A type of wood that is commonly used for crafting high-quality spears.

"A little bit on the nose, System. A little bit on the nose," I muttered. But I wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. Last, I opened the S-Ranked Insanity Chest. I closed my eyes for a second before looking at it. It looked exactly like the one I had opened before — the same matte black as the chest the lance and the Armor of Raziel had come from, with that red lining to it. For the insanity, I supposed. When I opened it, I thought that my eyes were playing a trick on me. This can't be.

I looked at it, and then I looked up. I wasn't really thinking of any God in that particular moment — just about the AI. Maybe I should look at the floor instead, I told myself. Maybe this AI is a thing from hell. And while thinking that, I checked the item's description. It appeared that said item had no description. Item - Magical C4 (Rank - S) - Level 30 It was a small pile of C4 bricks. There were probably thirty-something of them. And there was a small trigger — a cylinder with a button on top.

It had no wires, which made me guess that it was going to be remotely controlled. It was magical C4, in the end. Okay. I scratched my beard as I carefully put the explosive away in my inventory. This is starting to get freaky. Why am I getting an S-ranked explosive with no description when I'm going to a damn fortress, a stronghold or whatever? So the AI wants me to blow up the undead? Is this like, for real? Or is it a misdirection? Is it a monkey's paw situation here?

A Delphic oracle telling me to actually blow up — I don't know — this city? Maybe the army? No, it would have to be— It would be too much if— Now that I had seen the streaming panel, I was thinking about the entertainment value of blowing things up. If this was meant in a twisted way, the common person wouldn't really enjoy that twist. Hell, not even on Earth did people enjoy twists for a twist's sake, when Hollywood didn't know what to write anymore and had to put a twist in everything.

So I could only surmise that the AI was telling me pretty clearly that this was to be used tonight. For a pyrotechnic war crime. I rubbed my face. Whatever. It's time to go to the crafting district and see what can be made from all that we found in the boss's room.