For a moment, the only sound came from where the white-haired old man scolded the young man with a motherly side plait. But before dexter could celebrate his suddenly occurring language comprehension by way of listening to someone being chewed out, he was distracted by a strange pressure in the air that grew stronger for every second that passed. His mind had become sluggish again, and even minimal attempt at thinking made him woozy.

 

“...have you even thought... I had hoped that...”

 

The only one who seemed to clearly know what happened and what was the source of the pressure was the hooded woman. She had become increasingly disquieted and twitchy the longer it went, while the two other individuals had been oblivious and was still busy scolding and being scolded.

 

“Old Luga...” the woman called out distractedly.

 

“This is something that was already menti...haven't you read...” the old man kept berating while the young man looked down, the attitude full of repentance. He was in the perfect posture of a student listening to the lecture of his elder but Dexter who was still sitting saw that the hidden face was sneering in disdain from the corner of his eye.

 

And then there was an earsplitting crack that came from nowhere followed by a loud continuous rumble that was accompanied by the trembling of the platform they were in. Dexter who was in the middle of standing up almost lose his balance but he successfully avoided faceplanting by using his free hand as a support.

 

“Old Luga, continue what you are doing later! The stabilizer is overloaded!” the woman waved her hands about, making a mysterious gesture using her glowing palm, and distractedly continued “...I can't seem to channel the rampant flow!”

 

The old man Luga glanced at his partner briefly before making a request in a stern tone toward the one he scolded “Come to my office tomorrow morning, but in the meanwhile, bring him...”Old Luga gestured at Dexter, “...toward either The Blue Tower or Hall of Healing.”

 

The young man nodded politely before glaring at Dexter in annoyance when Old Luga moved aside to help the hooded woman. A split second before Old Luga turned toward him again, his facial expression becomes neutral.

 

“Hmm?” Old Luga hummed while raising his eyebrow toward the young man for a moment. When the young man turned away and tilted his head briefly, gesturing for Dexter to follow him, Old Luga nodded in satisfaction. And then he turned away and stood facing the direction of the people beyond the body of water after he made a one-handed string of gestures that made his voice become louder.

 

“The ceremony is temporarily postponed, the first year – the one who hasn't contracted familiar, please go back toward The Student’s Dorm. As for the one who had made a contract, escort your new partner toward Observation Plaza and wait there until the teacher in charge made an arrangement for you!

 

For the Gate Monitors, one of you go toward The Teacher Office and tell them there’s a dimension breach. Two people go check the Golem Catacombs, while another two patrol the Waterways. For the other five, four go to the Cardinal Dais near you and the last one come over here!”

 

The crowd of people beyond the water body started to disperse, and when Dexter started to stumblingly follow the guy who summoned him, there was one person walking out in the other direction from the dispersing crowd.

 

Fortunately, there were four pathways leading to the summoning platform, and that the guy didn’t use the same pathway as them so Dexter didn’t have to squeeze to the side so they could pass. 

 

Dexter glanced back toward Old Luga and the hooded woman. They were already busy and it didn’t look like there’s anything else they would need from him and the summoner guy. So Dexter looked away and started to follow the summoner toward whichever direction Old Luga asked him to bring Dexter to.

 

The young man didn’t hide what he felt from showing on his face because Old Luga was already busy to pay attention to him. Fortunately, even if he looked really sour he didn’t turn his anger toward Dexter. Other than looking back occasionally and stopped to wait in irritation – because Dexter walked wobblingly and slowly from dizziness and lack of balance – he kept his silence.

 

Dexter didn't really care much about the young man because his dizziness had prevented him from thinking clearly, making every errant thought came in disjointed pieces.

 

When they finally crossed over the body of water, the young man stopped to look back toward the summoning circle, giving a chance for Dexter to catch his breath. He fixed the position of his makeshift bag so it will be easier to carry before observing what had caught the young man’s attention

 

He saw a group of stone pillars carved with overlapping circles and geometric shapes surfaced from under the water. When the pillars stopped ascending, the gleaming jewels of various sizes embedded on them shone and the pathways descended to the water.

 

After the pathways disappear, an opaque dome of glowing blue barrier finally hid the summoning platform from sight. The young man started to move once more and wordlessly gestured at Dexter to follow him, this time with less hostility.

...

They had walked for a long time, and the only way Dexter could carry on walking in his current condition was because the dizziness that plagued Dexter had subsided from overwhelming to background noise. He could think clearly again and distracted himself from the tiredness by making a silent commentary toward the place they had passed by.

 

Separately every ornaments or carving looked underwhelming, but they sure know how to arrange it to an aesthetically pleasing whole...

 

This place would have been something out of a horror game in the lowlight...

 

When would this escort part ended and I reached the destination...

 

This felt like an endless CG intro...

 

I would have made a video out of this section... or at least do a nonstop screenshotting...

 

why did my tablet unusable... what’s the use of modern electronic goods if it was a deadweight...

 

All their walking was done in silence, and the only interaction they had was when the young man tapped his foot in irritation, waiting for Dexter to come closer. Since he clearly didn’t want to talk, Dexter didn’t make any effort to engage him. And so he was a little bit surprised when the young man finally talked as they reached a four-way intersection.

 

“This is as far as I’ll take you. Right now, if you go in that direction and then go left, right, left and all the way forward, you will reach The Blue Tower, and if you walked that way and turn right, left, left, and down the stairs you will reach Hall of Healing at the bottom.” He paused to look at Dexter, face neutral but his eyes were full of annoyance.

 

What the... what a daredevil... he already makes a mess before and yet he still dares to disobey a clear instruction...

 

When Dexter hadn’t responded as promptly as he wanted, he repeated his instruction, complete with another set of hand motion, “go in that direction and then left, right, left and all the way forward, The Blue Tower, that way and turn right, left, left, and down the stairs, Hall of Healing. Do you still want me to repeat that?” he said aggressively.

 

Why’s the rush, though? At one end, this guy should have just do what he was told, but on the other hand...

 

Dexter had wanted to question why he didn’t just obediently escorted him toward his destination, but he actually didn’t want to spend another minute with this sour-faced person so he only nodded in acquiescence.

 

“Good! And don’t follow me!” The young man turned and walked away promptly, and he went toward one of the other directions from the two he pointed. But before he disappeared in the distance, he stopped and looked back, shouting ”Remember, don’t take too long!”.

 

I actually didn’t care where he goes, but now that he said it... what’s so important that he had to ditch me here?

 

Right, Blue Tower or Hall of Healing? I can guess what one was from its obvious name, but what’s the other?

 

I feel kind of tired, so... rest first?

 

Dexter sat on the ground for a while, waiting until he felt he was refreshed enough to start walking again. And when he feel rested, he stood up and decided to walk toward The Blue Tower. He felt curious why he was told to be taken to an infirmary (judging from the name, Hall of Healing) or some kind of tower.

 

After this, the first intersection I should turn to the left, right?

 

The hallway looked way too similar to each other...

 

It almost felt like I was in a modern place where every corridor was built from the same template...

 

Left, right, left, and all the way forward...

 

Where was the famed ‘Blue Tower’?

 

At the end of the road, there was nothing but a strange statue placed in an alcove and surrounded by carved pillars. Dexter looked around for awhile – touching the statue and the pillar, examining every suspicious surface – before turning back toward the four-way intersection he came from.

 

Did I take a wrong turn somewhere?

 

I was sure I walked according to that guy’s instructions. I don’t think he deliberately lied to me...

 

Maybe I should go back to retrace the path or try the other direction...

 

When Dexter went back toward the four-way intersection by reversing the path he had taken, the place where he was sure the intersection placed was replaced with a long corridor.

 

He paused for a while, caught in between the urge to retreat or step forward to inspect what the corridor was. He finally decided to walk forward. But when he walked halfway to the equidistant part between his entryway and the other exit, suddenly the doorway was blocked.

 

Iron fences came out to bar the way followed by a transparent barrier that wouldn’t deform even if he put all his weight in pushing it. He spent another moment prodding and inspecting and analyze why he was trapped and got unpleasantly surprised when he found out that he wasn’t alone in the corridor.

 

Skittering dog-sized insects with gleaming carapace and shape reminiscent of a certain hardy nuclear apocalypse survivor.

 

What kind of stupid fantasy world have a bigger cockroach as a first mob?

 

Even someone brave could be having a traumatic flashback when they were surrounded by a swarm of normal-sized disgusting insects!

 

Tutorial battle; Dexter vs a swarm of dog-sized cockroach... can I get a refund?

 

Why couldn’t I have a cute bouncing slime as my introduction toward a fantasy creature?

 

Dexter suppressed the feeling of disgust when the insect skittered closer. He tried to gingerly walk around and keeping his distance in hope that they were not coming closer, but the bigger cockroach suddenly jumped up and flew toward his direction.

 

A sudden upsurge of fear made him drop down on the floor and roll away, narrowly avoiding the Big Cockroach ‘flying tackle’ move. When the big cockroach landed on the ground, Dexter pushed down his disgust and used his anger to fuel his attack.

 

He jumped up... and landed with a squelch. The other cockroach in the distance froze, and they moved as one to do a flying tackle against Dexter. When the swarm was flying toward him, Dexter had to forcefully push down the rising surge of nausea and moved to counter-attack.

 

 

...

 

 

Fortunately, these insects were phony insects... if these were real insects with their natural preset movements...

 

If this was a game, no girl, clean freak, or entomophobic would ever buy it.

 

Or if they accidentally bought it, they would complain and write on the internet “bad review, 1 star, wouldn’t recommend, too much nightmare material even at the tutorial battle...”

 

Dexter contemplated his first battle – that he almost lost because of his weak condition – result seriously, while his feet dragged his shoes on the floor to get rid of the squelching sound from the insects' innard still stuck on it. It took a while for him to calm down and notice that the fence and barrier had already gone while he was busy pondering things.

 

Hey, the path was open now. I guess I don't need to look for a hidden switch huh...

 

Was this the “clear all the monster in the area to open the path” section?

 

This is so game-like...

 

 

...[]