Unlike Zyrus who knew about the past events, others were perplexed by the sudden sounds that enveloped the tutorial areas.
Of course, Lauren and Kyle were an exception.
“Has it started?” Lauren asked while jumping over a twisted root.
“Yeah, so keep moving,” Kyle’s voice was heard right behind her.
“Can’t believe we walked out alive from this.”
“He is a good teacher.”
“Yeah, but we failed,” Lauren spoke in a dejected tone. All around them was a burning forest echoing with wails and screams of the dying monsters.
Things didn’t go as planned. Instead of guarding the monster camp they were forced to run away once the goblin riders arrived. Things only went downhill after they separated from Zyrus. They managed to escape the pursuit of the goblin riders, but all was spoiled by the arrival of a team of players. Apparently, they weren’t the only ones who had decided to launch a preemptive attack on the monsters.
It would’ve been fine if the newcors were there to attack the monster camp, but the poor bastards were being chased like dogs by a field monster.
Yes, a field monster that had less than a 1% chance of spawning. Kyle and Lauren had to run all the way back in hopes that the goblin riders wouldn’t be kind enough to welco their furry guest. But once again, lady luck had shown them a middle finger.
Thanks to Zyrus’s poison and the appearance of Nidraxis, all of the monsters were fleeing. Orcs, goblins, trolls…none of them wanted to be anywhere close to their goblet of fire. What followed was a chaotic ss as the ten-foot white bear fought against the remaining monsters near camp. The ragtag group of players was thrown into the ss along with Lauren and Kyle.
Everyone attacked everything and by the ti the bell started to ring, only three people survived.
*ROOAR*
Well, two people and a bear to be exact.
“Fuck! Why is it still chasing us?”
“Really? You’re asking that?” Kyle stared at Lauren's innocent face with accusation. She was the one responsible for everyone's death. With her speed that was unmatched in the low levels, she hit the bear and ran around the group of humans and monsters. Granted, it helped them level up to ten, but now they had a bigger problem to deal with.
“Cough…cough..Ahem”
“So you still have so conscience,”
“You’re still full of energy huh? Fine then, I’ll leave it to you,” Lauren huffed and ran away like smoke.
“H-Hey waiiit…”
*ROAR*
Two humans and a bear ran around the forest, and if one looked down from above, they’d see that the whole forest was running as well.
The tutorial areas had started to rge without the slightest tremors. The ground was moving like blocks of toys whereas the mountains grew taller and the rivers changed their course.
First ring of the sanctuary was erging in its fullest as space unfolded itself. And on a vast plain in the middle of nowhere, a player was taking full advantage of this shuffling.
*Slash*
-100,-100,-100
Exp 180
Three sawtooth rats popped out of thin air, and in the next second they were torn into a bloody ss. All of their blood was sucked within seconds, leaving behind a ter long brown fur and two jagged teeth.
Unlawfully taken from , this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Zyrus wiped the blood from his face and observed the spatial changes all around him. His instincts as an archmage still remained, and he knew how difficult it was to pull off such a feat. He knew the principle behind this phenonon.
To put it simply, imagine the first ring of the sanctuary as a gigantic piece of paper.
Now fold this paper over and over again until only a small square remains. Although it wasn’t sothing one could do physically, in this scenario the space was folded for thousands of tis. Every square was a tutorial area, stacked against one another without interfering with other spaces.
They also mirrored the sa structures. The mountains, rivers, forests, deserts, and even the boss monsters were nothing but a projection across the thousands of tutorial areas.
And now, that paper was unfolding itself. The distance between structures increased drastically as more and more space unfolded. If that was everything then two people looking at one another would be separated by hundreds of kiloters.
But things didn’t happen quite like that. That’s what made this change even more amazing. Throughout the unfolding spaces, the distance between different players and monsters remained the sa. They were marked as spatial nodes. It was the sky above and the ground below that changed.
His eyes darted sideways and noticed a black dot far away. His hands followed right after and swept through the targeted area.
-100,-100,-100,-100
Exp 240
The sa thing didn’t apply to roaming monsters as they weren't considered nodes. Unless a player or prominent landmarks were around them, the monsters would be reallocated just like other objects.
This scenario created beast tides, a situation where hordes of monsters popped up in front of players' camps.
‘Whoever ca up with this must be a sick bastard,’
Even in the short while when changes were taking place, millions of creatures would be dying in this purge. On the bright side, Zyrus was able to use this spatial node loophole to create a mini beast tide for himself.
*Stab*
-200
Zyrus kicked the troll’s corpse aside and looked for any dropped items. In the past couple of minutes, he had managed to fill up his Exp by one-fifth.
He didn’t find anything useful from the loot, but that was to be expected. Those who were sidelined by the majority were often poor and sick. So norms didn’t change between species.
At long last, the chiming of the bells ended.
Aurora’s familiar voice reverberated across the entire first ring. She gave a perfunctory speech to congratulate them and gave so crucial information about the changes in the tutorial area. She addressed the survivors as ‘players,’ and explained the effects of various stats and equipnt.
Zyrus wasn’t the least bit interested in her blabbering. He fixed the bloodspine spear on his back and waited for the ‘real’ announcent.
‘Here it cos,’
His eyes shone in excitent as he looked at the status screen in front of him. Thousands of other players also received the sa ssage.
[Out of the billions of creatures in the first ring, you are amongst the chosen few who have shown their worth in the tutorial.]
[Only the ones who have fulfilled these criteria in the tutorial are invited to The Crown Hunt]
[1. Reach level 10]
[2. Earn an achievent]
[3. Obtain a skill]
[Each species will have their own quota for this event]
Zyrus checked the list and nodded as it was similar to his past life.
Except for the last spot that is.
(Humans: 100K/1B)
(Orcs: 39K/3B)
(Goblins: 28K/500M)
(.)
(Ogres: 638/700K)
(.)
(.)
(Sylvarix: 1/1)
Unlike Zyrus’s nonchalant response, the list sent waves of commotion amongst the humans. Although they had the highest number of qualified players, this also signified that nearly 80% of the human population was wiped out in the tutorial!
It was a bleak reminder, one which they didn’t take lightly. So scread at the sky while others pleaded for rcy, but it was futile. Aurora was long gone from their vision.
The silver lining was that 100k players were chosen out of the 1 billion people. If they worked together then perhaps they’d stand a better chance in this hellish place.
A pity that the majority of the selected ‘Players’ had different thoughts on the matter. They learned the bitter truth as the reward for their selection. Up till now they had believed that this ‘Sanctuary’ was similar to the gas back on Earth. Monsters, Npcs, and players. They were familiar with the concept.
But contrary to their expectations, the system treated them and the other monsters the sa way.
Zyrus skimd past the next paragraphs as they explained what he already knew. Those who haven't t the requirents will live in a permanent safe zone.
They can live their lives in poor conditions that barely ensured their survival, or go to the second ring after reaching level 20.
‘Many will decide to give up, unaware of the fate that awaited them.’
Zyrus sighed as he recalled his bloody past. Even in his past life, none had realized the true indications behind this list. Living in the first ring ant that they were on the sa level as the other monsters, fodder, and farm animals.
It was the survival of the fittest all over again, but this ti, humans were at the bottom of the food chain.
‘But that has nothing to do with ,’
Zyrus poked the screen with his claw, and a new system window popped up with a brilliant flash.
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