In the very next instant, I gripped my dagger tightly and, with a burst of montum, leapt off the pipe—plunging straight toward the giant rat. Gravity pulled at my weight, and my descent quickly picked up speed.
The air around felt like it was being compressed as I closed in on the creature. When I finally made contact, a sharp, grotesque sound—like flesh being sliced open—echoed through the room, followed by the dull thud of my blade embedding itself into the giant rat’s skull.
Honestly, I had expected so resistance, sothing to indicate the rat was still alive. But to my surprise, there was nothing—absolutely nothing. The rat's massive body just collapsed forward without a single twitch or reaction.
I stood there, unmoving, waiting a few seconds. But it didn’t budge—not even a final breath. In the end, I pulled my dagger free from its skull and slowly climbed off the creature.
My breathing was ragged and fast, as if my body had forgotten how to inhale during the mont. For a brief second, I felt the breath I didn’t even realize I’d been holding finally return to my lungs—a wave of relief, like the weight of tension had been lifted all at once.
I turned my head to the side, raising an eyebrow as I noticed another system window had appeared at so point. Truth be told, I had been so caught up in the presence of the giant rat that I hadn’t even realized it was there. The interface glowed faintly, as if trying to get my attention.
*You killed [Giant Rat – lvl 4] – Bonus XP granted for killing an enemy above your level. 8 TP gained*
*DING! Class [Assassin] has reached level 2 – Status points allocated*
I stared at the two separate screens hovering in front of . Sohow, defeating that creature had leveled up—but sothing felt off. Strangely enough, I hadn’t felt the change.
No visual cue, no internal shift—nothing but the sudden appearance of the screen. At first, I figured I must’ve missed sothing, so just to be safe, I decided to double-check my status.
Status
Na: [Justin Davies & Noa Davies]
Race: [Dyadren]
Class: [Assassin – lvl 2]
Profession: N/A
Unique Skill: [Dual Existence]
[Stats:]
Health: 116/116
Mana: 172/226
Strength: 10
Agility: 11
Perception: 12
Constitution: 10
Willpower: 14
Titles: N/A
Class Skills: [Silent Steps (Common)] - [Precise Strike (Common)] - [Detect Presence (Common)] - [Identify (Common)] - [Multiracial Language (Unique)]
Profession Skills: N/A
As far as I could tell, the changes were obvious. The stats had definitely increased compared to the first ti I saw them. If my mory wasn’t ssing with , the numbers had been significantly lower before. Most likely, in addition to the free points I received for picking a class, the simple act of leveling up had contributed to the boost.
That said, what really caught my attention about my status was, without a doubt, my Mana reserve: 172/226. It was becoming increasingly clear that every skill I used drained a fixed amount of mana, depending on the skill. Still, considering how many tis I had pushed myself in battle, the remaining amount was surprisingly comfortable. From what I could tell so far, my recovery seed to hover around 1 mana point per minute — a slow pace, but steady enough to keep functional.
In other words, as long as I kept my skill usage under control, I wasn’t in any imdiate danger of running out of mana. But putting the status screen aside for a mont, a strange feeling started creeping in. Sothing didn’t add up. I had gained a few points recently, but for so reason, I couldn’t find them anywhere on my profile.
At least, not in any of the sections on the status screen. Frustration started to bubble up, but before I could spiral into speculation, sothing unexpected happened. As if responding automatically to my curiosity, the tutorial screen popped up. And sure enough, at the bottom of the list were the points I’d been searching for.
[Tutorial Progress]
Tutorial duration: 90 days remaining
Completion criteria: [Survive the tutorial and gather tutorial points]
Tutorial info: [Starting locations vary depending on where participants were when the tutorial began—forests, deserts, even oceans. Wild beasts roam these zones. Defeat them to earn tutorial points and grow stronger.]
Tutorial Point Rules: [Tutorial points are awarded for defeating roaming beasts. Points are shared among collaborators. If you eliminate another newcor, their tutorial points will be transferred to you.]
The final rewards will be based on the total tutorial points earned and the number of survivors remaining.
Remaining Survivors: [5680/5900]
Total TP Gained: 8
To be honest, I had no idea what those points could be used for—but keeping them saved up didn’t seem like a bad idea. Read full story at novelꞁire
Besides, I doubted the people who designed this system would implent a point chanic without a real purpose. Still, as I stared at the screen, sothing caught my eye. I blinked in surprise, my gaze narrowing in on a particular detail that stood out: Remaining Survivors: [5680/5900]
Of course, the fact that the number was dropping wasn’t what really surprised . In a situation like this, it would’ve been more shocking if it hadn’t dropped. What really unsettled was the timing.
The tutorial had barely started—probably not even an hour had passed since the whole thing began—and already the number had dropped from 5900 to 5680. In other words, about 220 people had died in under an hour.
That realization sent a chill down my spine and reminded once again—this wasn’t so amusent park ride. This place was hell, a battlefield where only the quickest and most adaptable had any chance of surviving.
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