Creation Point: 19,000
The cold metallic chair lay broken across the lab’s cold, dark floor. Each of those straps was still tied, each meant to hold his limbs. Surrounding the chair were various injection devices, connected to a giant tube right in the middle of the lab.
That thing. Rue hated that thing. The lab faded away in his vision, and he stepped closer. He lay his bare hand across the tube's sleek metallic surface. He pressed his cheek and peeked inside through its darkened glass, only to find droplets of blood on the bottom of the machine. Did they remove all the blood? Rue looked at where the machine was supposed to let the blood out, and sure enough, the tubes were opened—with a scratch mark.
Someone was desperate. It even looked like a bear claw tried to pry it open.
Those fools had taken everything.
A brief sense of satisfaction pinged inside him. Rue let out a small smile. He knew he had to protect them now, but still, there was so much resentment left...
Then, it finally dawned on him. I'm back.
“Now, where to go?” He groaned as he popped his shoulder, twisting his neck.
His hand touched the part of his head with the knight’s helmet.
He still wore the half-broken helmet and the gauntlet, too. This reminded him that he felt Roh had scammed him in a way, well, not literally though. The Fallen Angel should have explained everything. That guy somehow left perhaps the most important part of the shop.
Deciding what to do next, he looked at the open hallway, which lay bare, with none of those sad-looking lamps to light up the path. Instead of a cheering crowd, a mess was left behind. Beds strewn off their carriers, blankets scattered all over the floor. All in all, this mess was not too bad. The hospital looked clean as always.
But something changed.
Usually, it looked depressing. But, this time, to Rue’s eyes, it appeared strangely peaceful, heck, beautiful even. He stepped into the hallway; unlike Sruka’s brothel hallway, the hospital’s hallway stopped at a dead end. Two dozen doors lined both walls, and Rue stopped dead. He just realized that he did not know what each of these rooms was for.
Curiosity pricked him, but it was not like he would find some great treasure inside. Still, though, maybe just a bit of exploring?
Rue pushed open the closest door, and at the far end of the squeaky-clean room, a display hung proudly.
Graduate of Elnason Univ…
Rue’s eyes glazed over to the name.
Dr. Perez Jameson.
That was a name he didn’t expect to meet from the get-go.
He went closer, and a smaller picture lined the desk on which a rather unnecessarily huge monitor rested. It was a picture of a young woman, Perez himself, and a smiling woman. Rue took it up, inspecting it closer. Perez’s daughter was holding a framed paper, proudly holding it closer to the camera while both parents cheered in the background.
It was a college acceptance letter.
Right, Rue had heard about her when Perez tried to do one of his ‘Therapy’ sessions with him. He always despised those sessions, but Perez just kept going on and on about his family.
“Are you still alive?” Rue muttered out loud.
He found a dresser and opened it to find five doctor coats and scrubs, which were blue long-sleeved tops and pants. These scrubs looked comfortable. He looked around. No one was going to miss this, right? Well whatever. Rue removed his bandages, wincing at every bit of skin that let go. He let out a relieved sigh as his skin had healed.
No more Mana Sickness.
Putting on the scrubs, it was a bit oversized for him; strangely, that made it all more comfy. He looked at the doctor's coat, debating.
Well, might as well.
Rue took one and wore it. It had plenty of pockets, which would be convenient later on.
The window of Perez’s office let in a stream of falling sunset. Orange blanketed the city of Lost Arrow. The sun almost went into darkness, but not quite; instead, the dying sunset showed Rue the broken city sprawled below him.
Smoke churned with auburn light from various high-rise buildings, some even taller than the hospital. Green smudges blanketed and melted parts of structures, completely changing them into a melted spire. That sludge was the cause of the strange smoke.
Far below, remnants of structures were scattered over the asphalt pathing. In a tree-section, a tower had completely toppled over and gone through two flat buildings, making a large barricade. By the end of the tower, Rue could spot the green smudge again.
What the hell was happening? He tried to see closer, breathing into the window. But he was way too high to spot more. He needed to leave. Just as he turned, he found the CPU still intact, untouched maybe.
He powered it up, only to find it refused to boot up.
Was there anything here that could tell him what had been—
[Quest Complete]
[Minor Healing]
[Heal any Injuries]
[Reward: Minor Health Potion X5]
[Quest Complete]
[Mana Regeneration]
[Regenerate 10 mana]
[Reward: Minor Health Potion X5]
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Ten vials manifested out of thin air, five red and five blue.
They clanked down onto Perez’s desk. Rue took each of them, storing most of them around his doctor's coat, which had a lot of convenient pockets he could reach for.
Yes, he bought the quest, not the weapon itself.
[Arming Sword] [2,000]
[Basic Long Sword] [2,000]
[Casting Bracelet] [3,000]
[Ashwood Wand] [2,000]
[Frontier Guard Plate] [200,000]
Each of them, Rue had carefully chosen with Roh. They decided that it was best for him to focus on getting good armor since his Knight class would adapt armor to his body.
Roh also told him that the Piece Quality would be entirely dependent on how well he completed the quest.
The rank went like:
Fragile Piece. Lesser Piece, Novice Piece, Well Piece, Master Piece. Up until this, the Tutorial could give. The rank beyond needed to be obtained through a special way: Saint Piece, Archon Piece, God Piece.
One of them was a magical blacksmith, whom Roh claimed would be available in the second stage, before he shut himself up for telling too much.
Rue could feel his mouth watering at that one piece of armor he saw in the shop. Head shaped like two UFOs combined with a gleaming gem right in the middle. Plates shimmered with a dark crust of frost and a sleek limb support that—Rue shook his head. That costs a million points. Still… That was a frost armor. Imagine if he used Stasis of Obsidian Ice while wearing it?
A million and a half points. Yes, that would be his target.
For now, Rue’s priority was to find a survivor, not only for the main quest but also for his Frontier Guard Plate’s quest.
Speaking of the main quest, he opened his palm, and there it was. Somehow stuck right onto Rue’s left palm. A freckle of gold, jutting out. It would look creepy had the seed not looked mystical with an almost translucent golden sheen on its edge.
[System Seed][Mystical][God-Piece]—by the System will, those who are powerless shall be given a chance. Plant the System Seed into a ground area to inhabit a large tree. The seed shall not accept the ground if there is not enough space. One day, the System tree will grow, birthing a lesser library inside. Every day, a thousand fruits will be born.
A God-Piece.
What would happen if Rue took this and ran? That would be stupid, yes. But lots of beings would probably love to get this thing.
Nah, let's not risk being hunted by the Watcher.
Still, though, one thing had not been answered yet. What would happen to the tree when this Tutorial stage was over? Would it be destroyed when the world was combined? Or maybe it would survive all the way to the last world? He should remember this and maybe issue a gag order on this knowledge, if he could.
“Well, finding people first is the priority,” he mumbled, leaving the office with his doctor's coat. He passed by a toilet and decided to enter to check himself in the mirror. The half-broken helmet showed his white hair pressed down on his scalp. Should he cut it? Most people here probably still had Mana Sickness in their bodies and would capture him if they could.
Rue’s gaze darkened. Pressing his hand on the mirror, tracing his white hair across it.
Could an M4 kill him? A handgun? Finding out about that might be more important right now.
Deciding to get a bandage, he found a supply room. Rue immediately raided all the shelves and cabinets, only to chuckle at himself as he opened the glass casing. He subconsciously tried to find potions.
“That will be useful,” Rue said as he found a medical satchel the size of a bulky laptop bag.
He was especially pleased when he opened it; there were tiers of compartments and pouches, even elastic loops which were perfect for his vials. Rue quickly removed everything and put all of his vials there, except for two that he kept in his pocket.
After tying the bandages around his helmet, he only needed food now.
He knew where the cafeteria was, at the very bottom.
Rue left the supply room and descended the almost endless L-shaped stairs.
“What floor is this again?” He grumbled, looking up to the sign that said 12th floor.
At least he was healthy now…
Rue descended. Curiosity about the other rooms drove him, but the entire day would be gone if he kept exploring.
When he reached the eighth floor, he examined the bay window placed on every floor of the stairs.
At first, there was nothing, then a scream started. Rue flinched, slamming open the window and looking down at faraway figures of humans firing their weapons. The entrance to the hospital was dark, so their guns lit the darkness. Those were rifles, and they were firing at a… dog-sized rat?
Too far to know.
Another five humans tried to run straight through the hospital gate. Two other humans held the gate, and the rats were about to catch up to their comrade.
“Close it, you fool,” Rue hissed under his breath.
They didn’t.
The rats lunged at the humans' backs, and cries of agony blasted into the sky. They burst straight toward the hospital gate, and the main group backed away. Those guns were absolutely useless. They had nothing—then a grenade was thrown, blowing three of the rats apart. Rue cursed under his breath as he steadied his feet from the brief tremor. So it could work. They had a method to kill the monster. And Rue did not like that.
Still, they only handled three. Out of the smoke, five rats rushed forward, straight inside the hospital.
“Up! Up!” A voice screamed below him.
Switching to the stair railing, he peered down to see that the humans were firing their weapons as they ascended straight at him.
They probably would be fine if they kept going. But six of them got caught by the rats. One man's feet crunched. The rat mauled the poor man in one bite, and a second passed, three rats were atop him, ripping his flesh apart.
He begged for help, wailed for it. And he was not alone.
[Quest]
[The Guard’s Duty]
[Protect helpless one from certain death (0/100)]
[Reward: Frontier Guard Plate]
Rue raced downward, skipping steps, still keeping his eyes on the carnage below.
Still too far to identify.
He should have met the survivor on the fourth floor, but instead, he met nothing, only screaming.
“Penelope!”
“Give it up, Ein! She's gone.”
“You fool, don’t you dare throw your grenades down!”
By the third floor, Rue met them—a dozen of them. Every one of them had a restless, gaunt look as five of them still fired down while the others had no more ammunition. One man, tall and wearing a military uniform, had pinned one man against the wall, cornered with two others who tried to get him off.
Another man, a fat man, just noticed Rue, and he held his handgun up to him. “Ein! Behind!”
This Ein man turned and cursed under his breath. In a matter of seconds, ten small guns aimed at Rue.
“Lower your gun!” Ein snapped, and his order was followed hesitantly. “Survivor!” he snapped at Rue. It probably meant it as a question, but the man was clearly agitated.
“I am,” Rue said, descending into them. He pushed away the man who spotted him first and went straight down toward the second floor.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Someone asked behind him.
Rue raised his hands. A vapor of cold left his mouth, and the air above him froze. Three Frost Shrapnels manifested.
“We got another one!” He felt a gun aimed at him again, but Rue did not care. He shot his magic down. Trail of cold zip lurched down. Ice cracked on target, bursting blood and an explosion of mist.
[You have Slain Blight Rats, Drip Rats—Level 15]
[You have Slain Blight Rats, Drip Rats—Level 16]
[You have Slain Blight Rats, Drip Rats—Level 15]
[Quest Complete]
[Kill Three Foes with Magic (3/3)]
[Reward: Ashwood Wand]
[Quest Complete]
[Kill One Foe (1/1)]
[Reward: Arming Sword]
[Quest Complete]
[Cast Lesser Piece Spell]
[Reward: Casting Bracelet]
[Quest]
[Slay Five Foes with sword (0/5)]
[Reward: Basic Long Sword]
The Arming Sword formed in his hand. It was not a large sword; its steel only extended about the size of Rue’s wrist. But he and Roh purposefully chose this so Rue could practice his swordsmanship, and this was the perfect chance.
“Five of them,” Rue muttered, looking down at seven Blight Rats still eating dead bodies. He stored the wand and wore the Casting Bracelets. Rue was curious and wanted to inspect both of them. But that could wait.
A girl, who looked familiar, desperately fired off her handgun. She pushed herself with her back against a corner upon the first flat side of the first floor, surrounded by two Blight Rats.
She looked familiar. Realization entered Rue. Despite it, he advanced and brandished his sword.
[Arming Sword] [2,000]
[Basic Long Sword] [2,000]
[Casting Bracelet] [3,000]
[Ashwood Wand] [2,000]
[Frontier Guard Plate] [200,000]
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