Chương 9: B1 | Chapter 9

Aidan The first thing I see after entering the portal is another room that looks very similar to the first one I entered before choosing the hard difficulty path. Except with just a single path in front of me now instead of three. And the second thing I see is a wave of messages appearing in my vision. ◊ Mission Complete ◊ Tutorial: Tower – Floor One Objectives: Find the exit to the floor and slay at least one hundred cave dwellers. Reward: 1081 Tutorial Points.

◊ Tutorial's first floor has been completed by the user. Now calculating Tutorial Points… ◊ ◊ You were the 101, 489 th user in your Tutorial to complete the first floor of the Tower. Reward: 100 Tutorial Points. ◊ ◊ You were the 1008 th user in your Tutorial to complete the first floor's hard difficulty of the Tower. Reward: 250 Tutorial Points. ◊ ◊ You were the 81 st user in your Tutorial to complete the first floor's hard difficulty mission in the Tower. Reward: 300 Tutorial Points. ◊ ◊ Congratulations!

You were the first user in your Tutorial to raise your Profession to level ten before clearing the first floor of the Tower! Reward: 300 Tutorial Points ◊ ◊ Congratulations! You were the first user in your Tutorial to slay every monster in the first floor's hard difficulty in the Tower! Reward: 500 Tutorial Points. ◊ ◊ Congratulations! You were the highest level user in your Tutorial upon completing the first floor of the Tower, at a cumulative level of 27! Reward: 1000 Tutorial Points.

◊ ◊ Tutorial Points have now been calculated. Leaderboards Score will now be updated. ◊ ◊◊◊ Tutorial Leaderboards 1. Aidan Vale 2. Jessica Steele 3. Snapjaw the First 4. Rictar'lavi 5. Andrew Stone 6. Draxion Heliosynth 7. Serina Duskbane 8. Zryss the Fangsplitter 9. Akira Fuji 10. Lucas Müller ◊ Rewards for Tutorial Leaderboards placement will be given upon completion of the Tutorial. ◊ Huh… those don't seem like human names from Earth. Or at least, not all of them.

Actually, now that I think about it, I'm kind of surprised that there are five human names on the list if there are alien worlds counted in this as well. It's a pretty good- ◊ There has been an update to the Tutorial Leaderboards top 10. ◊ Tutorial Leaderboards 1. Aidan Vale 2. Jessica Steele 3. Snapjaw the First 4. Rictar'lavi 5. Andrew Stone 6. Draxion Heliosynth 7. Serina Duskbane 8. Zryss the Fangsplitter 9. Akira Fuji 10.

R'th'rexithal Rewards for Tutorial Leaderboards placement will be given upon completion of the Tutorial. Nevermind. One of the human names just got booted out. There's a lot I don't know about this Leaderboards, so it's probably too soon to make assumptions. I don't know if this is the leaderboards for just our specific Tutorial on our merged planet, or if it's for every Tutorial out there, or what. Not that it really matters to me. Not much, anyway. Still. Four human names in the top ten is pretty impressive.

Especially with two, including myself, being in the top two. That's really impressive. Although I don't think I really count as a human anymore. Seeing as I'm, well, not one. Anyway, I go ahead and walk over to the only pathway in the room. One labeled by the System as 'To the Second Floor: Hunting Grounds'. And without any hesitation, I plop down on the ground and take a short nap.

Then about an hour later, after I'm feeling a lot more rested – it seems whatever my new species is doesn't need as much sleep – I continue through the doorway. Only to appear in the middle of what looks to be a village. With numerous stone and wooden buildings scattered about and quite a few people walking around. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Both human and otherwise. My thoughts are interrupted when I see more messages appearing.

And at the same time, I feel some people beginning to identify me. How I know that, I don't know. I just do. ◊ Welcome to the Second floor of the Tutorial Tower! The Hunting Grounds! Here you can meet other users from your Tutorial, trade, or even work together while you hunt. But in order to leave the second floor and reach the third floor, you must kill a certain number of monsters within the hunting grounds.

◊ ◊ Mission Received ◊ 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.

So it's just a plain hunting grounds. We're supposed to hunt monsters until we've killed enough to leave. Although a thousand monsters is a lot to hunt. I purse my lips at the thought before shaking my head. Then again, there are probably a lot of monsters in the Hunting Grounds. And I killed a hundred monsters to make it here. Anyway, I go ahead and turn my attention towards some of the people who identified me. Finding both humans and aliens amongst that number. So I return the favor and identify them as well.

[Lyra Ralz – Level 7 Human Warrior] [Jack Gray – Level 9 Human Hunter] [Zlchar – Level 10 Zelbar Slayer] [Darkness – Level 9 Wrath Rogue] [Redtail the Third – Level 11 Lizardkin Berserker] [Braxis – Level 5 Ratkin Bandit] Interesting. So it states more information for an Awakened user being identified than a monster. Also, there are a lot of species I don't recognize. The zelbar, which seems to be some sort of walking bug thing.

A mix between a human and an ant, with muscles like a human, and connecting joints like an ant, finishing with an ant's head. Overall, kind of disturbing looking. A wrath seems to be a humanoid with gray skin, blades sticking out of their elbows, and glowing blue eyes. Not anywhere near as alien looking as the zelbar. The lizardkin is just like I saw in tv shows for the most part. A humanoid lizard. Simple as that. And the same goes for the ratkin.

And there are even more species other than just the ones I identify. Those are just the ones that identified me first. That's a lot of aliens. Probably about three quarters of the people here are aliens and not humans. Something else surprising is how there are some users here who are very weak. As in just levels three to six weak. How did they even manage that? Were they trying to stay as low a level as possible? Or is there something I'm missing?

Probably the latter, because I highly doubt there are a lot of people wanting to die during all this. Anyway, there are a lot of people whispering about me.

"The top ranked on the leaderboards…"

"He's here!"

"What is he?"

"I've never heard of a Void Crowne before…"

"What's a Unique Lifeform?"

"Think he'll join our team?"

"I think we should ask…"

"His level's so high…" More and more people turn their attention to me as they hear others talking about me. Making me feel even more people identifying me in the process. And at some point it just starts to get annoying. I narrow my eyes before looking around a bit, only to blink when I see a familiar face appearing next to some shiny, black obelisk at the center of the village. And when she sees me, she immediately begins to smile, only to freeze in place and blink in confusion. No doubt at my change in species.

But despite that, I go ahead and walk over to Ali with a smile on my face. With my twin sister quickly snapping out of her stupor and pointing to a spot in-between a couple buildings in the village. Out of the direct sight of most but not all of the other people here. I nod my head and begin heading over there. Wasn't expecting to see Ali here. Although I have to wonder what that obelisk thing is. She seems to have appeared with four other humans.

And while I wasn't sure at first if they were together or not, the fact that they're walking with her implies they probably are in a group. I'm not sure how she managed to form a group so quickly, but I guess she's always been pretty charismatic. And blunt. Kinda odd how she can be both so easily. Anyway, when I reach the area between the houses, ignoring the gazes on me from the other people in the village, I stop and wait for her to arrive with her group.

And the first thing she does when she arrives is pull me into a hug.

"I'm glad you're okay," she says with relief practically spilling out of her words. I feel a smile forming as I return the hug and say, "Likewise." We separate before I ask, "Have you seen Mom or Dad yet?" She shakes her head, "No, I only knew to look for you because of your showing on the leaderboards." Ah. Right. Forgot about that. There's also a good chance Mom and Dad are in a different Tutorial depending on how they separate them. I glance at the people with her. People who make for a rather odd group.

One of them seems to be barely a year younger than us and he's just fidgeting nonstop. Meanwhile two of them are literally hiding behind Ali, and the last one just nods his head when he sees me. Of the four, the younger one has long, brown hair going down to his back and is wearing a hoodie and pants. One of the two girls is wearing a skirt with a heavy coat on, while the other is wearing pants and a heavy coat. And the last guy is just wearing a tuxedo.

None of them are as low a level as some of the others I've seen here, but they're not particularly impressive either. Then again, most of the people I've seen are pretty low level. Something's off here. Am I just leveling faster or something?

"So, wanna tell me about what happened to you?" Ali asks, drawing my gaze back to her and reminding me of the whole 'species change' thing that I almost forgot about.

"Right," I mutter before asking, "Can we talk somewhere else? There's still a lot of people staring." Ali glances back in the direction of the obelisk to see quite a few people still staring at us and whispering from the corners of that village center they can see us from. Then she slowly nods her head and says, "Let's go into the Hunting Grounds." I nod my head in agreement. And just like that, we set off into the forest outside of the village. Where we can talk without interruption.

With Ali's little group following along without a word. I'm honestly a little surprised her group isn't reacting more strongly to me, but I guess it might be because that village was already filled to the brim with aliens. And there's a chance they were already told about me being Ali's brother, considering that she said they were searching for me. Eventually we reach a quiet clearing without anyone following us, where I begin to explain to Ali exactly what happened when I entered the Guide's little office.

And, as expected, she and her group are more than a little shocked by it all.

"So your hunger…" Ali mutters with a conflicted look in her eyes.

"All the Bloodline's fault," I state with a nod.

"But now it's gone so long as I can drain the source mana from items and dead monsters." To my surprise, tears actually begin to form in Ali's eyes as she smiles and says, "You're finally happy, then?" I begin to panic. I've never been very good when people are crying. Especially when 'people' refers to Ali. Ali just laughs when she sees me panicking, then she wipes her tears and pulls me into another hug. And we only split up a few seconds later, leaving a comfortable silence that stretches on for a bit.

"So, not that this isn't heartwarming and all…" the younger looking guy mutters, reminding me of their existence.

"Is now a good time to introduce ourselves, or…" I blink while staring at the four of them, all of whom look rather awkward now.

"Aidan probably forgot you existed," Ali says, exposing me without hesitation. Rude.