Chương 140: Chapter 123 – The First Thirty Days

By the time Cade and Sasesh reached the wall of the camp, most of the survivors had gathered near the entrance. Some watched Cade with wide eyes while others stared at Sasesh, who was still sweating and breathing heavily from their spar. Cade ignored the attention and walked over to Kyle. The archer stood near the back of the group with the Stormshore Shotstone in one hand and his bow in the other.

"Any luck?" Cade asked. Kyle held up the fist-sized brown stone.

"Not really. I tried putting it against the string and pulling back, but it just stayed a sphere. Then I pushed Mana into it while holding it against the string, but it still didn't change."

"Huh." Cade frowned.

"Based on the description, I figured it would turn into an arrow or something. My [Greater Identify] literally says projectile shape, size, and mass are determined based on the weapon and the Mana consumed. It should work with a bow."

"Maybe it's meant for a slingshot," Kyle said.

"Or a gun." Cade blinked.

"There are guns?"

"Yeah. You can buy them through the System Store. Haven't you searched for them before?"

"Who would choose to use a gun?" Cade asked.

"I'm sure they're strong and all, but they just seem silly now." Kyle stared at him for a moment.

"That's funny coming from the man who grew a wooden leg out of his hand."

"Okay, you got me there," Cade said. Kyle snorted and handed the stone back to Cade.

"I don't plan on using guns, and no one else here uses them either, so it's a pretty useless item to us." Cade shrugged and shoved the awkwardly large stone into the pocket of his sweatpants. The fabric sagged immediately, threatening to take the waistband with it before Cade quickly cinched the drawstring tighter. Kyle glanced down at his new leg, then back at Cade.

"Thanks again. Next time we see each other, I'll be stronger. Now that I can move again, I'm going to shoot every swamp monster stupid enough to come near."

"Good," Cade said.

"Just don't get yourself killed." Kyle snorted.

"After you went through all that trouble of putting me back on my feet? It'd be rude to die now." Cade shook his head and moved towards the others in the group. Amanda thanked him again for helping Kyle and for the advice about healing. Bryan gave him another bear hug, though this one had less force behind it than the last. Cade noticed the man's injuries had improved since yesterday. Amanda must have already started practicing what they spoke about.

When Bryan finally released him, Cade took out the Primordial Bead Dewdrop, placed it against the large man's chest, and activated it. Light pulsed from the bead and sank into Bryan's body. Cade was surprised to see that only some of the lingering wounds faded. Bryan must have really taken a beating. Oh well, Amanda can handle the rest. Then Cade looked toward Nadean. She blushed almost immediately and looked everywhere except directly at him.

Kranti stood beside her with his arms folded, while Professor Sanders watched from a few steps away.

"Sorry I didn't get a chance to help you, Kranti, or Vikram the way I did with the others," Cade said. Kranti shrugged.

"It's fine." Professor Sanders looked over sharply.

"Vikram?" Cade turned to him.

"Yeah, Vikram. I don't work for you anymore, remember? I probably shouldn't be calling you by your title. Besides, I don't know how much being a professor really means in the Tutorial." Vikram took off his glasses and polished the lenses against his shirt nervously.

"Yes, I suppose you have a point." He put them back on and cleared his throat.

"Vikram is fine." Cade turned back to Nadean. Her eyes flicked to his, then quickly looked away as a small smile tugged at her mouth.

"It's okay. I'm not sure what you could help me with anyway. You're some kind of mage or something, right?"

"I'm not a mage," Cade said immediately.

"Yeah," Earl called from the side, a shit-eating grin spread across his face.

"He's a swamp wizard!" Nadean raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not a swamp wizard either," Cade sighed.

"But yeah, I'm not sure how I'd help with your skills. Maybe next time."

"We should probably get going," Earl said.

"We're already burning daylight." Cade turned and gave him a confused look.

"We?"

"Yeah, we." Earl nodded toward the small woman standing beside him.

"Krystal and I are coming with you."

"You are?" Cade asked.

"Sure are."

"I don't know about that," Cade said.

"You nearly died from Richard's shadows, the rest of the Lords of the Swamp will be stronger than those things. Also, and I mean no offense, but I'll probably move faster without you two."

"Yeah, probably," Earl said.

"But I'm not made of glass, kid. I can keep up. Besides, I'm not a fan of staying in one place for very long and I'm itching to get out there and fight. And Krystal here said she didn't want to hang around neither. Isn't that right?" Krystal shifted awkwardly under Cade's attention. She looked like she wished Earl hadn't opened his big mouth. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"I'd like to come along," she said quietly.

"If that's okay with you." Cade looked between them. He understood Earl wanting to leave. The man was a battle junkie, like so many protagonists from the books Cade used to read. Krystal made less sense, but who was he to deny someone the Path they wanted to walk? She may be scared, but at least she was choosing to move forward. Before Cade could respond, Earl spoke again.

"And besides," Earl added with an exaggerated seriousness, "what happens if you need more pants?" His eyes dipped toward Cade's sagging, mud covered sweatpants, then snapped back up.

"Can't have you running around the Tutorial all nak—""Okay," Cade said quickly, cutting the bulky man off.

"Fine. You can come." Earl's grin widened.

"But don't expect me to do all the fighting," Cade continued.

"If you're coming with me, both of you need to level up too. I'm not shepherding anyone through the swamp."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Earl said. Krystal nodded quickly.

"I understand." Earl rested his axe more comfortably over his shoulder.

"Convincing you was easier than I thought it'd be." Cade sighed, then looked back over the gathered survivors of Camp Persistence. Amanda, Bryan, Kyle, Sasesh, Nadean, Kranti, Vikram, and several others he didn't know all watched him with expressions ranging between uneasy exhaustion to gratitude and hope.

"This isn't goodbye," Cade said.

"At least, it better not be. I expect to see all of you again." A few people straightened.

"You survived the first thirty days," Cade continued.

"A lot of people didn't make it this far, but surviving isn't enough. The walls between this quadrant and the others are coming down soon. The Tutorial is changing and if I know the System, the swamp is going to get worse before it gets better." His gaze moved across the group.

"So get stronger. Learn everything you can from what this place throws at you and grow from it. Don't let the System, the swamp, or anything else decide what you become." His eyes lingered on Sasesh and Nadean for a heartbeat before moving on.

"Walk your Path with your head held high," Cade said.

"And when we meet again, I know that every one of you will be stronger than you are now." For a moment, no one spoke. Then Bryan gave a loud, approving grunt. Kyle just nodded. Sasesh and Nadean both looked away as color crept into their cheeks. Cade turned before things could get any more awkward and started walking into the clearing outside camp. Behind him, Earl cleared his throat. Cade stopped and looked back.

"You guys coming?" Earl pointed in the opposite direction with his axe.

"If you want to go after the Lords of the Swamp, you're heading the wrong way." Cade stared at him.

"What?" Earl's grin came back in full force.

"I know where two more Lords are, and they're both that way." Cade closed his eyes for a second before letting out a long sigh.

"You should have said that sooner," he said.

"Lead the way."

"Gladly," Earl said as he turned and walked into the swamp. Krystal followed a few steps behind, moving carefully through the mud. Cade caught up with the pair and fell in beside Earl.

"So," Cade said once the trees swallowed the camp from view.

"How exactly do you know where two of the Lords are?" Earl pushed through a curtain of hanging vines with the head of his axe.

"I've wandered around the swamp quite a bit while looking for fun things to fight."

"As one does," Cade said.

"Found one of the Lords that way," Earl said.

"Got close enough to see it, but I hightailed it out of there as soon as I realized what it was." Cade looked at the large man.

"You didn't even try to fight it?"

"Don't insult me, kid. I'm reckless, not stupid. You're the only person I've met that has the balls to go toe-to-toe with one of those bastards." Krystal stared at Earl, confused.

"Oh yeah," Earl said.

"You didn't get to see the fight. Cade single-handedly beat the brakes off Kharvaxis, that big shellfish Lord."

"No, I heard about that from Nadean," Krystal said quietly.

"But the Earl I knew earlier in the Tutorial would have charged in a blind rage."

"Ha, you got me there," Earl said.

"I got a skill to help with that now. Anyway, I heard about the other Lord from a couple survivors I ran into about a week ago." Cade stepped over a half-submerged log.

"There are other survivors who weren't part of Richard's camp?"

"Oh yeah." Earl glanced at him, then winced.

"Right. You can't see the Tutorial Score screen or the rankings." Krystal looked between them, her brow furrowing. She opened her mouth but Earl waved a hand before she could ask.

"Long story. Just know that Cade's got some weird stuff going on."

"Is that why no one could find him on the rankings list?" Krystal asked. Now it was Cade's turn to look confused.

"Anyway," Earl said, clearly trying to steer the conversation away from that.

"There were two hundred and fifty people in this quadrant when the Tutorial started. Now there are only eighty-seven." Cade stopped in his tracks.

"There's only eighty-seven people left?" Earl's usual grin faded.

"Yeah."

"Damn," Cade said.

"That's a lot of people who didn't make it through the first month." Then the rest of Earl's words caught up with him.

"Wait. That's just this quadrant?"

"Far as I know," Earl said.

"Ranking screen only shows people in the swamp here. I have no clue how many people are in the whole Tutorial." Cade looked ahead through the trees. Eighty-seven survivors meant barely more than a third of the people who entered this quadrant remained after the first month. And that was only here. How many people had died across the entire Tutorial? How many Tutorials were there? Humanity numbered in the billions. How many of them would ever make it back to Earth?

His jaw tightened, but Cade forced the thought aside. Worrying about the rest of humanity wouldn't change anything.

"What do you know about the two Lords?" Cade asked.

"The one we're heading toward is the one I saw myself," Earl said.

"I didn't get close enough to learn much, but it's a giant salamander. Not as big as Kharvaxis but bigger than a bubba truck last I saw."

"What's a bubba truck?" Krystal asked.

"It's slang for a heavy-duty pickup truck," Cade said.

"They're real fun to go muddin' in. Well, they were before the System at least," Earl said.

"Anyway, the smaller salamanders around that territory are fiery sons o' bitches. Spit flames, light themselves on fire, all that fun stuff." He glanced back at Krystal.

"And they've got burning blood, so try not to get sprayed." Cade stopped in his tracks as a System screen materialized in his mind. ATTENTION ALL TUTORIAL PARTICIPANTS Congratulations on surviving the first 30 Earth-standard days. Containment walls between quadrants have been removed. Interquadrant exploration is now available and encouraged. Primeval Quagmire: The remaining Lords of the Swamp will continue to grow in power as their territories expand.

Minions of each remaining Lord will begin assaulting permanent settlements in waves of increasing difficulty as the beasts attempt to conquer additional territory for their Lords. Icespire Peak: A frozen mountain quadrant besieged by undead invaders. Your fellow humans of Earth have banded together beneath the ice and snow to resist the dead and reclaim their territory. Emberforge Caldera: A volcanic quadrant of intense heat, sacred metals, and unstable elemental activity.

Elemental chaos rages against order-bound Automata as both sides battle for priceless natural treasures that spawn upon and within the volcano. Sunscour Expanse: A desert quadrant of scorching sun and abrasive winds. Unknown dangers lie hidden beneath the shifting sands. Deep within the desert lies an oasis, home to a variety of crafters, artisans, and merchants as well as treasures, services, and talent. Central Convergence: At the center of the Tutorial, where all four quadrants meet, lies a spherical barrier.

Entry is restricted to participants of Race Level 50 or higher. This is a special high-value zone where only the truly worthy may compete for peak Tutorial rewards. Actions performed within the Central Convergence that align with your Class or Profession will be weighted at four times their normal value for Tutorial Score calculations and will award triple System Credits. Your final Tutorial Score will determine your rewards upon completion. Survive. Explore. Advance. Secure a foothold for humanity.