BXBX NOVEL Chapter 47: [The reality of Tutorial Phase 1!]
"I used to think it was a place where you have to survive until the very end but after I reached the safe zone, I realized that it was a chance to improve your living condition after what happened in the tutorial. As for how, I only know that points are everything in the safe zone. And the only way to earn a lot of it is in the tutorial."
She looked at me for a brief moment before she sighed and mumbled," so you know nothing, huh?"
"Huh?" Confused I looked at her, while she continued speaking,
"Let\'s start with the very basics."
"Do you know what this place is? Some call it Tower, others call it Heaven Floors. There are many names for this world that we live in, but for convenience sake, let\'s call it the Tower."
I looked at her with my eyes narrowed, taking in all the information that she was providing as I listened to her.
"The Tower has a total of 100 Floors, starting from 0 upto 100. We are currently at Floor 1. The Floor of Azkaban. And the tutorial is also known as Floor 0. Not going into the detail of the Floors, let\'s focus on the Tutorial first, shall we?"
She then clicked her finger creating a wooden rectangle board on the table.
"The Tutorial is a gateway from your world to the Tower, allowing you to have a chance to change your life once and for all. If you die, you get transferred to Floor 1 with all the things that you have achieved up to that point."
The wooden board then split into 10 small rectangles, each of equal sizes.
"Tutorial level 1 is to give you a chance to adapt to the environment. Level 2 is to analyze your own power with the situation. And Level 3 is to utilize that power with added items and skills from the shop."
Three of the pieces were separated from the others.
"Together, the first three levels are generally considered as a single phase. There are two reasons for that, one is that they are connected to each other, and the other is that you can only earn points in the first three phases of the tutorial. The other 7 levels do not give you any points."
She then sighed as she saw my wide open eyes, before she continued,
"I hope you have earned enough, since until you get to at least Floor 10, you won\'t be able to earn a decent amount of Points at all. Anyways, now to the important part. Just like the previous 3, the next 3 Tutorials are also connected to each other."
She seperated another 3 placing them together. I listened to each of her words with extreme care, not missing even a single word as if my life depended on it.
"They are collectively called the Tutorial of Skills. Here you will find 1000s of skills, from Grade E to a maximum of Grade S. If you are lucky, you may even find a Grade SS skill.
Bad news is that the difficulty to obtain them increases as the Grade increases, but good news is that you get them as [Skill Cards] so even if you don\'t take them for yourself, you can bring them back as many as you can."
She smiled as she looked at me before adding another piece of information,
"But there is something more. In the Tutorial Level 6, you will find a place called as [Forgery!], that allows you to fuse various skill cards together. Though the success chances are low, there is a chance to increase the grade of the skill card if the synergy of the two is good."
I looked at her for a few seconds before I asked,
"So you want me to synergise as many cards as possible and get you as many S-Grade ones?"
Now I could understand why everyone wanted to talk to me down there. I am capable of making millions in the first tutorial, so naturally I am strong. Then adding with the information of the next three floors, I could potentially gain a large amount of cards. I guess, Annikin was thinking the same as well?
I looked at him, while he seemed to be sheepishly smiling at me.
"If you can give us S-Grade ones, we would be more than happy to pay you enough to live a couple of lifetimes. But we usually make deals with A-Grade ones and below, since they are easier to procure. S-Grade aren\'t apples you can pluck off from the tree, you know?" The lady spoke as she looked at me with a slight chuckle.
I nodded at her. Before asking,
"Since we are on that topic. What is the best skill grade to accept in skill slots?"
"Hmm that would be A-Grade and above. To be honest, there are special ranks for people with multiple S-Grade skills," She spoke as she brought forward a certain list.
10 A-Grade Skills - Amature
1-3 S-Grade Skills - Soldier
4-6 S-Grade Skills or 1 SS Grade Skill - Warrior
7+ S Grade Skills or 2-3 SS Grade Skills - Champion
5-7 SS Grade Skills or 1 SSS Grade Skill - Legend
\'Goal is 10 SSS skill,\' I made a point as I smiled before asking,
"How many Legends are there?"
"I think 7? Though they are the highest floors of the towers," she answered before changing the topic,
"All right. Enough of chit chat. Now that you know everything that you should know, is it all right if I ask you a few questions?"
Since she provided me with such crucial intel, I nodded as it would be fine to answer her as long as it doesn\'t get too personal.
"Don\'t worry. I don\'t get involved in personal things," as if reading my mind, she smiled at me before asking a set of normal questions. They weren\'t direct questions that asked about my skills and gift, but similar questions enough to judge if I was powerful enough for them to strike a deal with.
And after a proper discussion where they were satisfied, I asked a question that had been bugging me for quite sometime now.
"Ummm. I know it\'s a bit awkward since we have been talking for quite some time now but… who exactly are you?" I asked as I looked at her.
"Pfft-" she paused for a moment before laughing a little. Then she looked at me with a sudden mysterious smile as she answered,
"Sorry for the late introduction. I kind of forgot to do that amidst all the serious discussion. My name Clair, a True Dragon, the owner of the [True Skill Emporium!], and also the [Administrator of the First Floor!]."
…
In a restaurant near the central market of the safe zone.
"Man, this is the best!" Mark spoke as he took a bite of the meatballs he bought with some 100 points. Considering he had over a million points, this was pretty cheap for him, so he felt pretty rich. Going as far as even paying for Alice and Alex sitting with him.
"Easy there Mark. I know we have earned a lot, but we should be careful with how much we spend. Maybe you know, look out for some weapons or something?" Alex, who was much more reserved, tried to calm Mark, though it didn\'t seem to be working as Mark simply glared at him.
They haven\'t eaten anything proper for a few days, and nobody knows how long the next tutorial will be. At least that\'s what the philosophy with which Mark convinced the other two to eat with him.
Unlike Mark, Alice ate her portion gracefully while checking out her system and skills. While she agreed with Alex about checking out some weapons, she also didn\'t mind stopping to eat for a change of pace. Though there was another concern that was filling her mind…
\'Did he not make it?\' She thought as she recalled the guy who was leading their team during the first two days. How he acted as bait so that they could survive… even then she was sure that he would somehow survive again but now that it\'s been a few hours and he still hasn\'t returned, she was now mulling over the possibility of his death as well.
"ALICE!!! Huff… huff… you are… here… " And there came Julia, running as she barely caught her breath. From the sweat all over her body, it was apparent that she ran quite a bit. And then looking at the trio who was now facing her she spoke,
"They… come back. Everyone… come back…"
And behind were two people who should have been dead. They were Tristan and Reyan, the duo which were killed by that monster that Adrian killed.
…
In a park near the middle circle of the safe city, there was sitting a blonde kid with a glowing blue sword on his waist. That Mana sword was the reason why the boy was able to rule over the first tutorial for a brief period of time.
He had plans to take over the entire tutorial over time, but reality washed all his plans away when he found out that the points that he was using to sabotage the [Shop] items, had far more value in this [Safe City!].
"I am such a pathetic loser," he grumbled as he put his head down, while sitting on a lone chair.
Losing everything in the tutorial. Whether it was friends, money or power, there was nothing that he had now that could be counted on. He was truly alone now.
"Are you perhaps a swordsman?" And then the feeble voice of a boy came, making Luke turn around, only to find a kid no more than 13 years old standing behind him.
Ignoring the kid, Luke stood up and began walking away from there, but the kid started following behind him as he asked again,
"Hey! Mister! Where are you going? Tell me! Are you an adventurer?"
Luke stopped before turning around. And then glaring at the kid, he said," I am a bad person. Didn\'t your mom tell you to stay away from strangers? I might kidnap you!"
Luke even tried making a scary face, but the kid only ended up laughing out loud, making Luke angry a bit. That kid laughed for a few more seconds before turning back to Luke as he said,
"It\'s a safe city, Mister. Nobody can harm anyone else unless the other party wants to get hurt. Don\'t you even know the basics?"
"Is that so? Well. I just finished the tutorial so I don\'t know much about it," Luke answered without much thinking, to which that kid became excited even more as he shouted,
"Then does that mean you can collect cards?!!!"