Flashbacks - Earth, 1 week before Nathaniel got into the tutorial

"Yes, as I said. Some of the lower security prisoners have disappeared, around 15 women and a similar number of men. Along with the guards, a doctor, and some of the visitors. An entire block of the building is gone."

"Explosion?"

"If it was an explosion, it's the weirdest I've ever heard of. We already had someone here, asking… no, ordering us to blame it on a gas leak and declare them dead."

"FBI?"

"Most likely, the director told us to follow orders and not ask questions."

"I'm not getting paid enough to stick my nose into this so let's do that. Did you start contacting the next of kin of the people who disappeared?"

"Yes, we did, we contacted some of them, but there were a few that we couldn't find any contacts for."

"Keep trying."

 

---

 

"We lost one of our Typhoon class submarines, sir."

"Come again."

"I don't know how to say it otherwise, sir, we lost contact, sir."

"Did ASW not find anything? Is there any chance that it could be a secret mission from the higher-ups?"

"That's unlikely, they were supposed to return to restock and change crew."

"Their equipment?"

"Intercontinental ballistic missiles, each armed with multiple nuclear warheads. They had a hundred of them."

"How sure are we of their disappearance?"

"They were on the surface having a direct line to one of our warships and got cut off in the middle. We already sent a few ships to their last location."

"Let me know as soon as you get more information. Anything."

"Yes, sir."

 

---

 

"Did you hear? The train Matus was on crashed just this morning!"

"What the hell, really? How is he? Is he ok?"

"We don't know," a boy takes a few steps and opens the door for a group of his friends.

They enter the shop and quickly start picking out snacks before they go to school.

"I heard the train disappeared." one of the friends says.

"Bullshit, how can a train disappear?" another of the boys waves his hand. "I tried to call Matus multiple times but he is not answering, I hope he’s ok."

 

---

 

Two men stand and stare at a car. Well, what's left of a car. The entire front end of the red pickup has been torn off, and the engine has been destroyed, and smashed.

"Did someone crash it and run away?"

"Yes, most likely in a tank while hiding the tread tracks."

"Then how the fuck do you explain this?" one of the men screams, this car was brand new, barely used.

The other man points at the tracks in the mud.

"There is no way it was a bear!"

His fellow grabs the screaming man and leads him to the side of the car where deep gouges have been left in the door, "Can you still say it wasn't a bear?"

"This has to be a prank!" the man screams again and they start arguing again.

 

---

 

Two boys sit high in a shaking tree, phones in their hands, both of them calling anyone they can. Parents, police, firefighters.

The tree they are sitting in is massive, yet it trembles constantly.

Howl.

The cause is the wolf below them. The wolf is bigger than it should have any right to be. Its skin is brown and its eyes emit a demonic glow in the dimming light.

Once again the tree shakes and the wolf howls while the boys scream.

 

---

 

Flashback - ???, 1 week before Nathaniel entered the tutorial

"My lord, we got a message from the Palace. It's about the planet we’ve been Paired with."

"That's an unexpectedly quick reaction."

"Yes, my lord, they wanted me to point out that that planet has Beyond explorers. We don't know the exact number yet, but it’s likely between ten and thirty."

"That's quite a few for a planet that just entered its non-attack phase."

"I agree, my lord. Would you like me to find out more?"

"There is no need; we would need to ask one of the Rulers for more information about their tutorial, and we can’t waste our resources like that."

"As you command, I will try to learn which planets got the same instance of the tutorial; maybe we can use them during the last tournament."

"Good idea, you can do that."

 

---

 

I observe as my newest epic item, the Aqua Arcanum Vial, absorbs water from the lake I found. It's been doing that for a few minutes already, a stream of water continuously flows through the air and into the vial. At this point, this thing contains more water than it should.

How interesting. How fascinating.

Spatial storage? System fuckery? Can I replicate it? Can I use it to store... mana? Well, I have batteries for that, but it won't hurt to have more mana, right?

Huhu. I don't have a problem.

At some point, the stream peters out, and I heft the vial. It still weighs the same, and when I use it, water bursts forth. Holding the item gives me control over the water, and I swirl it around me, creating some sort of barrier.

I try to use the water as a projectile as well, and it works. Unfortunately, the damage is terrible, more like splashing water at someone. The only advantage is the large amount of water it holds.

While examining it, I try to condense the water and turn it into a thinner and more pressurized stream, like the ones they use to cut sheet metal.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work, and I don't have much control over the item. Well, not exactly, it's more like the item itself lacks control; it feels like a limitation of the item itself, like it’s not made to be a weapon.

Still, it's not so bad, so I start filling it again while I look around.

So far, I have met no monsters or detected any presence. When I flew high into the air, I saw some ruins far in the distance but I’ve decided to not go there right away.

I need to upgrade my construct, test my passives, and wait for my disciple. A disciple... such a strange thing. The Floor quest here is unlike any before, but up until now, there’s been some intent to them.

The first was to cull the weeds and introduce us to the basics of the system and skills while gradually increasing the difficulty.

The second was to show us a civilization at its peak, with Champions and an Absolute. The floor ended with a warning and showed us what we could be capable of. All of this has been shown to us while we’re still weak rather than being held back for later floors.

The third once again showed us the consequences of misusing our powers, and we had to rely on ourselves to survive, seek out information, and come up with a plan to deal with the Saint.

The fourth was the most freehand one. Plenty of options from hiring the natives, to turning calamities against each other, and a lot of ways to clear it. The Fallen Hero for those more suited to a single target, the Colony for those suited to large groups of enemies, And the more politically minded could start a war between the lynthari and the humans. The tree as an unmoving static target for those adept at channeling and preparation.

The fifth floor is to raise and protect a disciple. This all being a tutorial most likely means that we might be training people when we get back to earth and this is probably meant as preparation. The title of disciple is important to the system. We met the corpse of a Champion's disciple on the 4th floor and heard it mentioned multiple times. I also met Ruby on the second floor, and she was a disciple of that cockroach-like Absolute.

It all makes me curious. Disciples, candidates, Champions, and Absolutes. It might take a while, but I'll get to all this.

The bottle is filled once again, and I put it into my pocket and look at the pile of items I brought here with me. At least I won't be bored with so much work to be done.

But now, the most important part!

I have Mana Overload Absorption and Arcane Resilience, plus an improved healing passive. All three are epic skills that should be capable of helping me with the black mana and my new trait. So let's try it.

Deep breath in, and I activate my [Focus] and consolidate it, [Mana Manipulation] immediately activating at high power. my two starting skills. I'm still quite fond of them.

I let the mana reach my eyes, and the trait slowly activates, and the world around me changes. Beautiful waves of mana surround me, the ones I can't sense or see without the trait. I don't even know what they're called.

Then I start to see the particles of mana floating gently, swirling and filling everything. Ever-present and beautiful like tiny lights stolen from the sky. Ambient mana.

Gradually, I feel the pressure on my eyes and brain increase, but I hold on and continue to take it all in. The longer I do, the more information flows into me, and the deeper I see into this beautiful invisible world.

When I feel like it's enough, I deactivate my trait and, as my head screams, the information overload stops.

That was good, much longer than without Mana Overload Absorption. I was worried that it wouldn't affect my eyes, but it does and I'm grateful for that.

After a short break, I start another test, this time generating and storing a lot of thermal energy inside my body, as much as I can handle. It works well and Phoenix Embrace activates, healing, and supporting me. Then I activate my trait again and try it with my healing passive activated.

It starts similarly, but when I start feeling pain in my head and eyes, the healing thermal power rushes to them, alleviating a lot of the pressure and fighting against it. Not all of it, but plenty. The only disadvantage is the amount of focus I need to keep it activated while focusing on my eyes, but that much is fine, and the amount of time I can keep my eyes up increases.

While at the peak of it, I reach out my hand and create an orb.

Blue turns dark blue with streaks of light blue and purple, then white as if about to explode, and with a stronger push, it turns black, with tiny sparks of white light inside the pitch-black orb.

The way mana waves and ambient mana move around the black orb is fascinating, unlike any reaction I have seen with my limited experience.

Carefully, while using my trait and my skills, I try to control the orb, to force my will on it. It requires a large amount of mana to do so, but it's within my capabilities, then a thin stream of my mana connects to the orb, constantly supplying it with mana.

Not willing to take it into my body again, for now, I instead use [Focus] and manipulate it into changing shape.

It turns into a beautiful enigmatic black dagger, but even this doesn't feel like its optimal form.

Still, I'm happy, even with the constant pressure.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 43 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 44]

[Focus - lvl 42 > Focus - lvl 43]

Feeling I'm getting close to my limits, I cut off the connection to my mana and, unable to cancel it, I throw it nearby where it floats in the air, gently sucking and absorbing any mana that reaches it.

For the next hour, I continue to observe it, and at some point, I create a barrier around it, similar to the one the ants did before to store my black mana orbs.

Then for the next few hours, I observe as the orb gradually crumbles. There wasn’t much mana left for it to sustain itself, and I never intended there to be.

Overall, I'm really happy with the result. Sure, the black mana thing is best used defensively at the moment, with its capacity for absorbing huge amounts of mana and stopping attacks that are way over my head. So that's what I will do for now, learn to use it for defense.

The second step is to inscribe my arm again and use the orb to absorb mana and make it mine in a carefully controlled manner.

The third step is to slowly get it to flow through my body while maintaining the active state of my healing passive.

The last step is what I'm the most excited about. The black mana feels like mana+, or mana ultra, or maybe mana pro. The sheer quality of it is something else, and if I use it to power my skills, it will give me a huge boost. So of course I intend to use it. Parially it reminds me of [Mana Surge] skill I used to have, just more versatile and much stronger.

I'm about to turn around and go work on my construct, but then I hesitate in mid-step.

This doesn't feel right. Since when am I so careful?

Didn't I already decide to make myself as strong as possible? So what's with this tiptoeing, all the preparations, and careful testing?

My heart starts generating a huge amount of kinetic energy which I immediately transfer into thermal and compress it even further, golden flames blazing on my skin.

Then my eyes activate once more, a beautiful hidden world opening to me, and in that world, I create another black mana orb. I reach out, grab this orb, and squeeze it.

The black mana fights against me, tries to suck on my mana, to dominate it all.

And I fight against it. My skills surround it, my mana surrounds it, and I force it into my body where it starts flowing through my circuits, the pain increasing, feeling as if burning iron is pulled through my muscles. But I push that to the back of my mind and let myself absorb the entire orb, constantly fighting the mana in my own body.

I don't let it. This thing is made of my mana; there is no way I will let it fight against me.

[Mana Domain - lvl 28 > Mana Domain - lvl 29]

[Mana Domain - lvl 29 > Mana Domain - lvl 30]

My domain activates, this time within my body, strengthening my control over it and all of my mana.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 44 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 45]

[Resonance - lvl 40 > Resonance - lvl 41]

[Redistribution - lvl 40 > Redistribution - lvl 41]

[Resonance] activates, constantly shifting the frequency of the two types of mana, matching them more closely, and [Redistribution] helps too.

I ignore the pain and the pressure and just send a bit more heat through my body, any wounds that appear immediately heal under the influence of my golden flames.

Then, finally, the black mana gives up and I seize control of it. I move it and I use it for a skill. I pick the one I rely on over and over again.

[Focus], powered by black mana, activates and all the healing that was being sent through my body rushes to my head, my muscles immediately twitching, bones cracking. Yet even then, the passive skill only focuses on my head, trying to keep me alive and my brain from literally melting under the pressure.

For one second [Focus] activates. Just for one, one terribly short second that almost kills me. And in that short moment, I watch as the world around me slows down to a crawl and my mind feels as clear as never before.

My thoughts rush through with a speed that feels inhuman and it terrifies me.

The moment a feeling of fear intrudes, my mind examines it, reads it, and I feel a short burst of amusement before it's pushed to the back, immediately turning to my situation and examining the effect of black mana on [Focus].

The wind blows nearby and in slow motion, the branch of the tree next to me moves.

Surprisingly, my body is capable of moving and even though the world feels slowed down, I move normally and touch the branch.

Then I watch as my muscles and tendons on my arm tear, bones crack, poking through the skin, and I pull my hand back, only for it to break even further.

Only then do I realize what's happening, all still within that short second.

The world did not slow down; just my [Focus] allowed me to take in all this information and process them at a speed that feels so inhuman. Then my dumb ass tried to move my body and without realizing that moving it at the current “normal speed”, I would need to move it dozens of times faster than what I usually do and what my low constitution is capable of handling.

Before the effect wears off, I realize how dangerous it is and move black mana inside my body, pushing it out and shooting it far away from me, tearing a few holes in my skin, and overloading my circuits.

Then the sounds come back to me and hit me like a tsunami. Someone groans in pain and only later do I realize it's me.

I fall to the ground, head thrashing, arm broken to pieces, eyes hurting as if someone stabbed them, circuits overloaded even with my new passive. Focusing all my attention on keeping thermal energy flowing through my body and on breathing, I lay there down in the grass near the lake.

For the following hours, I only examine my area and keep up healing that is mostly focused on my head and brain. After that, I heal my body and examine my passive.

Then when it's all done, I lay there and try to take it all in. I spend hours and hours going over that single second when I felt so… so… I don't know how to name it. I just know I do not regret a thing.

Only when I hear rustling and feel a presence behind the trees do I realize that the 24 hours passed and my Floor Quest has fully started now.

I look up and there, poking from behind the tree, a small girl hides. She is around 6 years old. She has light brown hair that is messy and seems to have been cut with a knife, and she is wearing clothes that are more rags than clothing.

But the most striking thing about her is her eyes, red like rubies, and the two small pointy horns poking out from under her hair near her forehead.

And over her head, hangs a single word.

[Disciple]