- Ele Pov - - First day of the tutorial -

I can't believe Jay actually managed to beat the Veil of Darkness games at level 1 without getting hit, I actually thought that was impossible. He's such a dork but I gotta admit, he's unbelievably persistent, it's kind of scary actually, practically a superpower. I gotta get out of this pod and go get something to eat, watching Jay go though all that makes me want to try harder... God his attitude is infectious.

Where are my exercise clothes I should go to a park... Oh, right, I'm in the United Americas, no public parks anywhere around... How is it that I can go behind my parent's backs, get a doctorate in economics in a week, and start a company in the R.F.N of all places, but I can't even remember where I am at any given moment. Hah, life works in mysterious ways I guess.

"Observatory mode!"

As I get dressed and step into my living room the floor and walls start to shift color as a real time view of the Archlight city skyline is projected across my living room giving me a perfect 360 degree view of everything surrounding the Archlight Pinnacle Tower, standing at 200 stories tall it's the largest building in the world, it's also the place I grew up in, and my prison for the last 23 years. I guess that's a little dramatic, it's really fancy for a prison, and I am allowed to go outside, to a VERY limited degree and only while escorted by bodyguards, but still, technically not a prison.

"Hah, thinking about all this is just depressing, my company will be getting off the ground properly in the next few weeks, maybe less if everything goes well, and then... I get the hell away from my parents!"

I really can't wait, I'll finally get to date someone for real, actually yeah fuck it, the second I move out I'm picking up the hottest person I can find at a bar and... WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT???

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?"

Before I could so much as blink the sky is covered by dancing lights in every color of the spectrum, like an Aurora Borealis of impossible magnitude, the lights descend from the sky and suck the very color from the ground flowing back and spiraling around like a whirlpool over a spot somewhere just beyond the shore of the Pacific Ocean. Then the light gathers and begins to flow like fine silks around a massive, pitch black, monolith that descends from the sky and crashes into the ocean without so much as agitating the waters.

"What... even... I can't fathom... I..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Jay would have chose impossible... He's gonna get himself killed... Nah, who am I kidding, he'll be fine... FUCK IT!"

"I can't believe I seriously just did that... I think Jay might be a bad influence on me... If we both survive this I'm gonna kill him."

---

Ok, tutorial's started what am I supposed to do?

Well that's convenient. I'm in a stone room, looks like an overgrown medieval dungeon, with a fountain of... attribute training plus recovery, so this is some sort of stat check then and my stats are...

Well that's certainly interesting, and what does this so called enhanced mind do?

That is both interesting and INCREDIBLY non-specific, well it doesn't matter, I can't stay here, I should move quickly and finish this tutorial immediately.

Ele sprints through the door and into the hallway on the other side when suddenly...

"VRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

Glowing light appear on the other side of the hallway as a sound resembling an engine is heard. Well that's definitely lasers, easy enough... Ele immediately throws herself into a dodge to the side just as a laser cuts the room in half horizontally. Oh, I see what this is, so if I just move here... Ele moves to the side while keeping low and then starts sprinting again. Afterwards three more lasers come, but they all miss her completely and Ele continues unimpeded.

"VRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

So it's the floor and walls this time I guess, easy enough. Ele the hops straight up into the air just as yet more lasers cover the walls and floor, but as they expand to fully cover the hall they leave some gaps in between each laser and Jay notices that. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK, I was supposed to jump to one of those gaps, it's so close, barely three meters, what do I do? But by the time she notices her mistake it's far too late and she's obliterated as the lasers contract and disintegrate the air.

---

"Hahhhhh... that was dumb, I should have seen that coming, I have more than enough time to make it through all of that... actually, there's probably more than I've already seen... probably just a time check though, if you make it to the end on time you win, if you don't, you die."

I need to try that again, but this time I'll do it right, the next two challenges too.

Ele once again steps out into the hallway, but this time she's ready to face the challenge. She moves to the side and drops into a low stance before sprinting down the hallway.

"VRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

By the time the first wave of lasers pass Ele is nearing the other side of the hall, but then...

"VRRRRRRRRRRRRRR"

She leaps into the air and towards the other wall of the hall easily avoiding the lasers and then landing in one of the openings as the lasers contract. She continues running down the hall and just before the lasers come again she makes it to the other end of the hallway and continues into the next room.

I completed some achievements or something from the last room, doesn't matter, I just need to get through this!

"Now what, a fight? This looks like some stone forest, perfect place to set up an ambush... let them come then!"

Now how do I start this challenge? Somewhere near the fountain... there! a weird glowing carving on the fountain, magic? So I just press my hand onto it and...

Ele jumps back and away from the fountain just as the whole thing collapses in on itself and the room descends into darkness. Ha, I knew it, so I need to rely on my senses then!

*clink, clink, clink*

*Hehehehehe, hehehehehehe*

A sound like claws on stone accompanied by the laughter of children echoes around the room, and Ele responds by immediately picking up a rock and launching it into the dark.

*SKREE...*

*CLINK, CLINK, CLINK*

*HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE*

A cut off screech comes from the direction Ele threw the rock which is soon followed be a cacophony of sound from all directions and more screeching as Ele begins to launch rock after rock into the dark.

*Foosh*

Ele hears the sound of a projectile and swipes a rock in it's direction managing to smash a glob of something out of the air before launching the same rock in the direction the projectile came from. The fight lasted barely a minute and then there was silence as the fountain reformed and the room was filled with light again.

"Easy enough, and I completed more achievements... time to move on!"

There's a trap door in the fountain, that's where whatever it is I just fought came from and probably where I need to go I guess... Down we go!

*Splash*

A cavern? What's the challenge here... I'll look around first.

---

I've been here for what must have been 30 minutes by this point but I'll I've found is some weird carvings on the wall and a pool of glowing water... well that and a bunch of pots of undrinkable water half filled with some white powder-like substance. Maybe there's something at the bottom of the pool.

*SPLASH*

I can barely see anything... where are the walls? here... I'll follow this one down and...

*SPLASH*

"Augh, shit, a dry cave that opens straight into a glowing lake... why doesn't the water just flow in? Shit, it doesn't matter!"

I'll use the water for lighting, I should find something in this cave...

"What's up with all this white powder, it's getting all over me... this stuff looks familiar, I need to get it off."

*SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH*

"I'm so glad I decided to wear my exercise gear, easy to clean and that white powder doesn't seem to stick to my skin much so I'm fine... cold as shit though... I really need to calm down, panicking like this really isn't gonna help and now I'm walking through a near pitch black cave while freezing cold and butt naked... I really should rethink this."

Ok, let's walk through what I know about this challenge. I'm in some cavern that seems completely safe, there's this white powder everywhere... OK, I've definitely seen this before, what IS it? Shit, the one time I actually need Jay for something he's nowhere to be found... What I know for sure is that this stuff is DANGEROUS, the more I think about it the more my gut tells me to run away from it, but it hasn't done anything yet... WHY? Is it the water? Every time I've seen this stuff so far it's been covered in water... wait, white powder, incredibly dangerous, safe when stored underwater... this is white phosphorus isn't it? OH... If I'm right about this I would have BURNT if I didn't get it off me... Oh look a distraction, good!

This looks like some religious shrine you would find in ancient China... Is the purpose of this challenge to cultivate? that would fit with what I saw in the carvings, I should have read them closely, the tutorial at least clearly has some sort of auto-translate feature. That looks like a manual in the shrine... the 'White Flame - Core Formation Technique'... this is definitely a cultivation technique, and it seems water proof so I'll take it back to the surface.

---

Interesting, after looking through the carvings and reading the technique manual it seems like I need to form my soul and a mana core... easy enough, but the manual only allows you to control fire. I've already shaped my soul, it was unbelievably easy though the form it took seems a little odd to me, it's stretching out of my body and attaching itself to the ground under my feet and the air around me, I don't think that's normal, but it also hasn't proven to be a problem as of yet.

As for my mana core, from what I've learned, and after some experimenting, I get the impression that all the elements seem to work best when they coexist with one another, setting up a core for just fire seems incredibly inefficient when, with just a little more work, it would be possible to set up a core to act as a reservoir for all forms of mana. The only problem with that method is that it required high purity mana which would need to first be refined before it can be used. The amount of concentration required to pull this off is immense and with all these insufferable ghosts harassing me it's going to be one hell of a challenge... you know what, fuck it! I'm a give Jay a run for his money... you better watch out dumbass, with this I'll completely destroy you.

---

Who knows how many hours and way too many notifications later I finally have my core... I need to sleep, right now. That door opens with mana right? Yes... why am I getting so many pop-ups I don't care about any scoreboard, no don't put me on it! skip, just let me leave!

"AUGH, way too bright, I don't have the energy for any of this right now!"

Where am I... floor 2? And I need to wait for other people to show up... wait... there are other people here... and I'm still naked... shit!

*Rustle, Rustle*

I got my clothes back on pretty quick I hope I'm good

"Did anyone see me?"

"AHEM! Young lady I'll have ye know that public indecency is a crime!"

Oh fuck there's an old man, he's so short, shit how do I get out of this?

"I'm so sorry I'm new here and I didn't know there where going to be people here!"

"OH, A TRAVELER THEN! And the first! Well then how's about you come browse my shop and I tell no one about this... incident, name's Gray by the by."

"Yeah, yeah, sure sounds good, I'd love to see your shop, my name's Elaine... no wait, SHIT, call me Ele."