Chương 12: B1 | Chapter 12

Aidan After my fight with the assassin second ranker, I head back to our camp and tell the others. Making sure they're all vigilant in case she comes back. But she never returns all the way through the rest of the night. And even the next two days after her attack.

"If she hasn't attacked by now, she's probably not going to attack again during this floor," Ali says, still looking just as pissed now about the assassin as she was when I first told her about the assassination attempt.

"Agreed," Henry says without breaking pace.

"And if she's truly alone, she won't have any healers capable of healing the wounds Mister Vale gave her."

"More importantly," Jackson suddenly says with a smile, "how far is everyone from completing the objective? I'm just a couple hundred away!" I can't help but smile a little at Jackson's endless energy. And I'm clearly not the only one. Even the stoic Henry who rarely ever speaks and even refuses to call any of us by our first names cracks the slightest hint of a smile.

"Three hundred…" Rachel, one of the two most shy people in the group, mutters as quietly as a mouse.

"Three hundred too," Jamie, the other of the two shy ones, says after Rachel. Then Henry answers with a simple, "Two fifty." Followed by Ali's confident, "Two hundred."

"I should be done in a few hours at most," I answer with a grin directed at Ali, making her prior confidence falter a little. Both with her competitive nature making her not want to lose, and no doubt her not wanting us to get separated again out of worry.

"I'll be done after just a few dozen more wolves. But I'll stay and help the rest of you finish off your required kills before I move to the next floor." Ali looks a little relieved at that, and so do the shy duo. It isn't bad for me either since it means I'll get more points before moving onto the third floor of the Tutorial. Which should be the Profession floor, according to what Ali's Guide said.

We'll be paired up with a user from another Galaxy who has the same Profession as us so that they can teach us how to advance in the Profession. With the teacher getting some sort of reward from the System for their time. The only thing I'm worried about is who my teacher will be. Because that isn't going to be a question. There's only one other being in the multiverse with the same Profession as me. Which means I'll be meeting with one of the five most powerful beings in the entire multiverse.

And that has more than just me feeling anxious. Hence Ali's worry. Unfortunately, none of us in our group have much information about the Void Empress. Seeing as none of them thought there was any reason to know about her in particular out of the Five Rulers, and they were limited on question time. Putting the matter of the Void Empress aside for now, our group continues to hunt for a while before I finally get the last kill needed for completing the objective.

At which point I find the mission appearing in my vision with an update. ◊ Mission Complete ◊ Tutorial: Tower – Floor Two: Hunting Grounds Objectives: Slay at least one thousand monsters within the Hunting Grounds. Reward: 1 Tutorial Point per monster of the same level or below slain. 3 Tutorial Points per monster of one to three levels higher than the user slain. 10 Tutorial Points per monster of four or more levels higher than the user slain.

Token used to bring the holder to the third floor of the Tutorial Tower bound to the user who clears the mission. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The user may continue to stay on the floor and gather Tutorial Points from monsters should they wish. Simply use the Token when you're ready. Wait a second, will the Token be destroyed if I hold it? As if to answer my question, the Token appears in my hand in the form of a silver, crimson, and gold coin.

And I don't feel any source mana entering me through it. Good. Maybe it's not being drained because it's a System Mission item or something? Either way, I continue to hunt for several more hours with the others before we suddenly hear loud howling in the distance. Making us all stop to look in the direction of the howling. The howling seems to be coming from a large mountain visible in the distance. And after sharing a glance with the others, we all begin to head towards the mountain.

Everyone in the group has out-leveled the wolves at this point. So we need to find stronger monsters to level up more. I've been stuck at level nineteen for a while in my Class. Having only leveled up once since the last time. And while the others aren't in as bad of a situation, they're not much better either. Mostly because I have the advantage of draining source mana to level which they can't do. That said, some of them can practice their Professions. So they can level that way too.

Like Jackson's Bone Crafter Profession. Ali's Poison Master Profession can't really do anything for her right now though. Not when she knows nothing about poisons. We all quickly make our way up the mountain before finding the source of the howl. Which is a large wolf nearly twice the size of the silver wolves. And the thing is currently busy tearing another group of people to shreds.

With another group already dead on the outskirts of the clearing the large wolf is in, with said group being eaten by smaller wolves. I identify the large wolf as it finishes off another one of the people – not humans – it's killing. [Level 25 Golden Alpha Wolf] Oh. Wow. That's a large jump in levels.

"Smaller wolves first while the alpha is distracted," Henry says, taking the lead for this particular battle as he pulls his bow back and fires an arrow at one of the smaller wolves currently eating the zelbar corpse on the edge of the clearing. And I don't hesitate to rush over and begin carving up the lower level silver hunter wolves as Rachel casts healing spells on all of us to give us a small barrier thanks to her Bloodline. One that grants a temporary barrier to anything she heals.

Ali joins me in attacking the silver wolves, using two daggers to slice up another wolf while Jackson runs around with his sword. None of us are incredibly proficient in our methods of attack – except Henry who apparently knew archery before the System – but we've all grown a lot better over the past several days. Good enough that I'd consider us passable. Unfortunately my martial arts never taught how to fight with claws. For obvious reasons.

Right as we're about to finish off the last wolf though, an unexpected factor enters the clearing. A species I have never seen before suddenly charges into the clearing with a roar and a powerful breath of fire shooting straight out of his lizard-like mouth and head. Rushing straight for the alpha while ignoring us and the ones the alpha is currently fighting. The man himself looks kind of like a humanoid dragon. Like those dragonkin I've seen in videogames.

He has scales covering his entire body, with a lizard-like draconic head, bright red eyes, and razor sharp teeth and claws. And when I identify him, I get another surprise. [Snapjaw the First – Level 21 Drakeling Slaughter Berserker] Holy shit. This guy is two levels above me. He's also the third ranked user on the leaderboard. And, judging by the lack of anyone with him, he also seems to be hunting solo. The drakeling just continues to roar as he attacks the alpha wolf in an endless barrage fueled by berserk rage.

Whether it's breath attacks that the alpha wolf tries to dodge, and succeeds most of the time, or with the drakeling's fangs and claws. He's just going to town on it. And the drakeling is very powerful. But he's still fighting solo against the alpha, which is four levels above him. So the wolf isn't at a disadvantage either. Until Henry goes and fires an arrow at the alpha wolf, seemingly snapping the drakeling out of his berserk state through surprise.

With the man turning to look at us as I rush in and drag my own claws straight through the startled alpha wolf's neck. My attack doesn't go deep enough to kill it though as the wolf slams its entire body into me despite the severe mental pain it must be suffering from. Then the drakeling rushes in to dig his own claws into the distracted alpha wolf's side as Ali digs her daggers into its hide and Jackson stabs his bone sword into its flank.

All while I finish it off by stabbing my claws into the very same wound I caused before on its neck. Letting me get my hand inside of its neck to rip out its throat. Killing the thing and finally getting me another level for both my Class and Profession in the process. [Level 25 Golden Alpha Wolf has been slain. Appropriate source mana has been allocated.] [User's Profession, Void Creator, has reached level 18. User's stats have risen by the following amounts: +1 Mind, +1 Soul.] ◊*New Profession Skill*◊ [Void Mind Creation(Epic) – Grants the Void Creator the power to create minds of void creatures. The power of the mind is equivalent to the amount of mana and source mana used to create it.] ◊*New Profession Skill*◊ [User's Class, Void Devourer, has reached level 20. User's stats have risen by the following amounts: +2 Physical, +2 Magical, +2 Mind, +2 Soul.] And another skill I can't use right now. Still. More levels are always welcome.

And with the monster dead, we all turn our attention to the third ranker with all of our guards up thanks to our encounter with the second ranker. Here's hoping this guy is friendlier than Jessica.