Chương 113: Chapter 118: A Letter

"Elias! Elias, wait!" screamed Tom at the top of his lungs just as I lifted off the ground. With an internal sigh, I hovered back down and turned to face him fully.

"What is it now?"

"You have to see this. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad one, but you have to come to the shop right now." Yeah, no, that wasn't promising.

"Care to elaborate a little more?" I asked him while walking briskly to the nearby shop.

"It's about communicating, like you said yesterday. You were right, others already managed it, and we have messages." Fuck, it completely slipped my mind. This was too important to just forget, but at least these were very good news.

"Looks promising to me. What has you spooked?" Tom was visibly agitated, and while the man wasn't as steeled as I initially thought him to be, he wasn't someone easily rattled either.

"Something in the shop. We didn't buy it yet, we were waiting for you." Well, we arrived, so there wasn't really that much left to wait for. Inside, it was the same as before, minus a handful of people reading and writing paper slips. Jack, Gilbert, and Selene were here too, along with a couple of others from the other group I had no idea about.

"Good morning," I said.

"I just got the news, so what should I see here?" They looked at me with a certain apprehension.

"It's better if you check it yourself. Easier than explaining. Just search your name in the shop." What? Search my name? Did someone I know send me a message? My brother, or my parents maybe? I put my hand on the counter.

"No, it's fine… let's just pretend the guy you ruined financially is not even here!" shouted the mole-dwarf at me from the other side. While I searched my name, I absentmindedly answered him.

"If you didn't try to scam us, I wouldn't have minded paying an extra fee for your help in choosing the best items in the shop…" As I was about to say something else, my brain froze for a second. ──────────── [To Elias Mercer of Safe Zone 78] – 4 TP ──────────── How? I turned around and looked at the others. They had the same question written plainly on their faces.

"Did somebody else get addressed in the same way?" I asked. They shook their heads. One of the other group, a middle-aged woman, said: "Carl got a message from his daughter, but it wasn't… this specific." I nodded.

"Well, if we want answers, we'll only get them by reading this… message." I bought it. A thick letter appeared on the counter. With everyone staring at me, I opened it. One was the letter itself, the other was a roughly drawn map. I took the letter in my hand. A child seemed to have written it, the calligraphy was that bad. ──────────────────────── To: Elias Mercer Safe Zone 78 (Yes, I know where you are. But relax.) Elias, Good news first: I'm your friend.

If you're holding this letter, that means the shop trick worked again. Fantastic. I was honestly worried the admin would patch it after the fifth time we abused it to send mail, but apparently some things are missing. Stolen story; please report. Right, introductions. My name is Adrian Vale. Right now you don't know me. But I know you. In fact, in a little while we're going to become good friends. Very good friends. Pals, chooms, bros for life, you get me.

If things go the way they did before and you don't die sooner. Fun times ahead. For the moment, I need you to come meet me in Safe Zone 152. I'll explain more there. It's three days south of your position, straight march. Bring everyone. The safe zone is an island in the middle of a lake. Yes, really. Whoever designed this tutorial had a dramatic streak. I've drawn you a rough map so you don't wander into one of the "instant regret" areas. Unfortunately, this place is not linear in the difficulty department.

Now, a few tips to keep Future You from wanting to strangle Present You. First: Don't even waste time trying to learn spells. You are absolutely terrible at it. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.: -) You told me to remind you of that. Second, do not buy these skills for any reason: • Cursed Domain • Mana Domain • Curse • Teleport • Blink • Resistance • Spell Insight • Regeneration • Hexfield • Cursed Healing • Diffuse Curse • Bless • Remove Curse Yes, the list is weirdly specific.

Yes, you asked me to tell you this. No, you don't get a buy list because you're a paranoid bastard and anything I write, you won't buy anyway, preventing you from getting a good build. Again, your words. Instead, when you spend your next token, put it into Arcane Aptitude instead of Curse-Born Resilience before attempting any spellcasting. Trust me. There's a reason. I don't know the reason, but you said so.

If you need more proof that I know you, I'll remind you of when you cheated on Schneider's exam in your second year of uni. Bad, bad boy. Very bad. Your dad would be disappointed. Anyway, after you've bought your skills and everything else you need, head east alone. You'll find a monster there. Specifically, a large snake. The fight will be unpleasant. You will briefly question your life choices. Possibly several times. You have to win anyway, before evolving your class.

Beating it this early will give you a huge boost in stats and achievements, which will be extremely helpful later when we have to face the rest of the Kings. Oh, and before I forget. The contract. Go read Article 72 of the Laws of Corporate Assessments. Sorry, you explained it better, but I just forgot. There were too many mumbo-jumbo laws and stuff, and I'm not good at these things. But Future You insisted I remember at least this. Apparently it's "very important" and will "save me a week of fucking wasted time."

His words, not mine. I would like to explain much more, but anything we write is going to be censored if the information breaches whatever bullshit law the admins made up this time. Like this, for example: ᚠ∑⌬ᛟ≈⋇ᛞ∴⟁ᚱ∞⌁ᛝ∆∵ᚷ≠⋆ᛉ∫⌘ᚢ∇⊗ᛟ⋇≈ᚠ∴∆ᛞ⌬∑⊗ᚷ∑ᛟ≈⌬ᚢ⋇ᛝ∴∆ᚠ∫≠⌁ᛞ∞ᚱ⋆∵ᛉ⌘⊕ᛟ≈∇⌬ᚷ Anyway. Get moving and meet me in Safe Zone 152. I'll deal with the first King in the meantime. See you soon, Adrian Vale Hero of Humanity (P. S. Say hi to everyone for me, especially my other bro Quinn.) ──────────────────────── I flipped the letter, but nothing else was written on it. Part of the text was impossible to read. It felt like watching an optical illusion, the text constantly shifting into a jumbled mess of symbols and abstract shapes I couldn't make head or tail of. I reread the letter three times, then folded it. I took a quick look at the map. It was terrible, but it gave an idea of the tutorial's shape.

It was a large slice of pizza, with "beacon" written at the tip, but the half near the beacon was empty, while the rest had areas circled with quick annotations: "Bad idea," "Terrible idea," "Here I died a lot," and one labeled simply "No." I passed the map to Tom while putting the letter away in my satchel.

"What's written on it?" asked a man from the other group. A hysterical laugh started bubbling up from the merchant. We all turned to look at him. What the fuck was this guy about now? I was already tired, and now this. After his laughter abated, chuckling, he said: "It's written that you're royally fucked!" Another bout of laughter made him rock back and forth in his chair.

"Haaaa… who would have thought that I'd see a tutorial with a returnee in it? I'll enjoy seeing all of you squirm, you little bastards!"

"What the fuck are you on about now?" shouted back the same guy who asked me about the content of the letter.

"Oh, I can tell you, but it will cost! I want a million! No, wait, two! I'm the only one who can sell you this kind of information. Nobody else would be able to speak about it, so start collecting the points!" I watched him for a moment. This situation was stinking to high heaven.

"See if you can get any information about returnees, or whatever he said. At a reasonable price. I need to verify something before anything else," I said to Tom and the others.

"Elias, wait, what was that about?"

"Not now. Give me a couple of hours. In the meantime, try to get something out of the little shit." I went outside, thinking of how to proceed from here. Things were getting more and more complicated, and I felt out of my depth right now. I needed to think. Was this guy really from the future? Or was it an elaborate plan from the admins to mess with us? Me? No, it was too personal. I never told anyone that I cheated on that stupid exam. Anyone. This guy knew my skills, my traits. I only talked to Vix about them.

Could it be him? But it still didn't explain the information from before the Tutorial. Could they have read my mind? Possible. There was magic. Telepathy or mind reading wasn't so strange, right? But this… if it really was true, what did that mean? That I already went through this many times? That I was one of many different iterations of this tutorial? That I could be reset at the whims of this Adrian? No… I can't allow this. I need to meet this guy. Understand what is really going on.

I flew outside of town, moving in a random direction until I reached the treeline. Slipping in, I moved until I found a boulder and sat down. I took the book the guy in the letter talked about, a book I was using as a reference for many of the laws in the contract. Then I went on to search the mentioned article. Shit. I could see it now. I knew how to go about breaking the contract.