The next few seconds was a blur of color and movement as the world around fell away and I appeared in an office?
Like a sixth sense I could sense the place, it was vaguely familiar, in a deja vu kinda way. I looked back as a I heard a door opening as a well dressed figure in a suit standing at a slightly above average height just below six foot. When I looked at his face it was just wrong... It was as if my brain was whispering to me that something was off. The mystery of the characters identity was soon cleared up as soon as he spoke with a jovial smile.
"Cousin! How great to see you!" Dorthinoxin spoke up as he sat himself across from me and then I saw the name plate.
'Dorthinoxin, System Administrator'
Oh, of course this jackass was the one who allowed the weird sailor Eldritch being interference that forced me into the fight. I had a feeling but I didn't know how the whole tutorial thingy worked.
"I should have known it was you that allowed the mad sailor to interfere" I stated blandly just receive a giant pearly white smile that made me want to punch the arrogant daemon.
"Oh, boy that was good one, unfortunately we are not here to talk about pranks" he said at the same time he opened a cupboard and pulled out several files and one sheet of paper with a red stamp marked 'Transgression' several times. From the angle I could look a look at the paper it also had my name [Kien Noble].
"You're definition of prank needs some help" I stated with air quotes at the prank part. To which he laughed and then like a switch his happy face slipped off.
"Kien, Daemon of Protection and The Depths, we are meeting today to discuss a course of action as you are unknowingly in violation of several laws set by the system in the regards to the Tutorial" He stated seriously and the sudden change of conversation caused a whiplash as I looked at the face of the daemon as I tired to Pierce the veil to see if he was messing with me.
"Now, the system has marked that you had no idea of these transgressions before you entered the tutorial and had no choice, however that does not completely, excuse these actions" he stated as he flipped through a vanilla folder.
"What do mean, it's not like the System gave me rulebook, so how the hell am in trouble, and what did I even do?" I replied heat rasing in my voice as I raised a single eyebrow.
"Once again you personally were not aware of the deception you where an accomplice in, however the system has seen it fit to offer you a way out" he explained thumbing through more files, until eventually he pulled out one.
"Ah, here it is, here's your two options, one you exit the Tutorial and are held in suspension forfeiting any and all rewards and items gained during your time in the tutorial, or option two the system has a series of let's say harder tutorials, I'm not sure if you pieced it together but the system creates pocket spaces and chucks some single cell organisms in their and then speeds up the development of those spaces, This is to keep things completely random, some tutorials might be similar but never the same. However it causes issues should creatures deemed to powerful should ever develop, your job should you accept it, would to challenge the most dangerous" He explained and he put several files each one with lable and with a cursory glance I saw pictures of various creatures many of them terrifying.
"Why doesn't the System just glass these tutorial's?" I asked as I read a rather disturbing one about mind goblins.
"Uh, well technically it can't, the bylaws of the tutorial forbid it" He explained and horror gripped me.
"No! The system had bureaucracy, the unslayable beast!" I said shaking my fist in the air and I watched carefully and my ploy worked, Dothrinoxtin's mouth twitched for a moment.
"Ehm yes if that better explains it yes, bureaucracy is the cause of this dilemma, upholding these spaces come with heavy energy cost, If you wipe them clean then the system could gain more resources to use for tutorials, then the system will overlook you're involvement in the rule breaking" he stated splaying his hands out.
"Okay, fine I assume I get to pick them?" I said locking eyes with him.
"Yep! Well actually mostly the last one and the 5th are already chosen for you, the fifth is my domain, the City State of Juxia" he stated pulling out the final which held a basic description of the city state, and oh boy the city was massive roughly a billion people lived their full time, and it described how the city had many layers that allowed several billion challengers to exist in it without overcrowding it. The file used several metaphors that I didn't know and a whole slew of words that didn't translate well to English.
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"What about the last one? Is it a huge problem or something?" I asked and once again the Daemon across from me appeared somewhat sheepish.
"Well, the last one, the last one is populated with creatures with Draconic bloodlines with the strongest being a Wyrm" He stated and by the way he was talking this was not good, but a certain part of me a part all men have, the want to ride a frickin dragon!
"How dangerous are dragons, they were prominent in Earths folktales and stories, but I don't how much of its true." I stated phishing for more information.
"Dragons are a prestigious species, however they only gain true sapience in the mid Ranks, until then they are essentially really smart beasts, upholding that shard alone is several times more expensive than its runner up." He explained.
"Alright so, let me see the most costly of each stage, if I'm going to do it might as well do it right" I explained and once again the unnerving smile appeared on his face.
"Hear you, go for the second level we have a tutorial with only a single faction, a powerful variant undead species called Draugur, the elite of their species have shape shifting abilities and they posses a modicum of intelligence." He stated sliding a file, one of the few I hadn't skimmed yet.
The file was discerning, the system had ear marked three as 'elites'. One was a spell caster, one was a commander, and the third was a warrior. Originally this was a series of small settlements with four distinct intelligent species, two were familiar them being Dark Elves and Low Orc, the others were a species called Fomorian and the last were called Guern. Now though they were turned in a curse gone wrong, I was kinda glad as killing a bunch of people over what was essentially a glorified budget fix unsettled me. Now though these guys were undead, and I guess it was my goal to put them to rest.
"Alright I'll take this one, however how do these zombies, sorry, draugur spread their infection?" I asked as the file didn't mention it.
"This particularly type of undead resurrect those that are inflicted with any wound by draugur, though it won't turn you well you're alive, so you're fine as long as you don't die if you die, this shard becomes even more of a drain" Dothrinoxtin explained to me and I nodded basically don't die, my plate armor if it returned to me should work.
"Okay, what's the third level's most costly" I asked putting the file I was holding down just for Him to pass another. This one was populated by Goblins specifically Mind Goblins however as I flipped through It I saw discrepancies that made it obvious.
"Okay very funny, what's the actual one, remember this is my worlds humor" I said staring at him as the Daemon Deflated before handing me a different file this one a bit more chunky. Flipping through it, I saw that there was 3 factions present, this one was just straight up the battle of the big dum idiots. [Low Caste Cave Giants], [High Ogres], and the cherry on top [Deep Yeti]. The Giants were the most powerful individually but lacked numbers where as the High Ogres outnumbered the others two to one. The Deep Yetis where the middle ground apparently decently strong and had roughly 3/4 the number of High Ogres.
"Alright no questions for this one I'll take, it and come on bring the fourth one" I said puting their file on top the previous one. The files contained a lot generalities and lacked concise numbers or levels but I guessed what I had was Redacted.
"Alright the fourth most draining is this one, it used to have other factions but most where enslaved by the Serpentkin who now reign dominate. They have their leader who contains a very minor and thin connection to quetzalcoatls a magical serpent just below dragons. Besides him they have four priestesses each are powerful and rule over the former capitals of the factions." He explained verbally though as I read further into the culture of species by human standards these guys were horrendous.
"Well I'll take care of it though by human standards these guys are monsters and I'm not just talking about their appearances" I stated as I looked at the weird stubby legs and arms that made them look like bipedal newts rather than snakes.
"That's not just human standards these guys are considered a very ugly and brutal race" He replied and since Majority of the intelligent species had a passing resemblance with humans I wasn't surprised that they were considered ugly by more people than just me.
"Okay now the Sixth right?" I asked and once again I saw the files, this one was pretty normal essentially a buttload of something called [Earth Elemental] which were op in the caves, the seventh was another another undead one this time a lich with a host of skeletons. The second to last was another one with several factions again. This time it was seven cities each one with a humanoid faction. This one left a bad feeling in my gut until Dothrinoxtin elevated my fears.
"For this one its a bit of hard spot, it's too hard for an 8th rank level but to weak for a 9th so you can either weaken them or strengthen them and then they can eventually fall or be freed." He explained, and I nodded not having to kill seven Cities of vaugely humans where it was harder for my brain and morals to right off was nice.
The 9th ended up being a one I really liked, was filled with dinosaurs which I know was odd as Dinosaurs typically weren't built for caves but the variety of species that lived in that level had an abundance of magical sunstones and foliage which allowed the various creatures many of which evolved during completely different times of Earth's history but apparently the system couldn't give a rats ass.
The file for the final the one never came and I looked up at the Daemon and he smiled.
"Oh, no you don't get this one, but now you're choosing It's time for me to have the talk with you, Daemon to Daemon you need an actual introduction to the Divine and the System has allowed me to be such a guide" The daemon stated and with a snap of his fingers the files went poof.
