Standing on shaking legs, Archie surveyed the blood-soaked battlefield, flames still licking at the remnants of the carnage. His boots had melted away along with most of his pants, leaving behind little more than tattered, hole-ridden shorts. His bare chest was marred with fourth-degree burns, his face half-melted, with slivers of flesh still clinging to exposed muscle.
Yet, all of it was healing rapidly as he supercharged his vital energy through Vital Metabolism
With Vital Sight
They all watched him with a mixture of fear and wariness. Some shielded their kin with their own bodies, hiding their forms from view, but Archie paid them no mind.
Instead, he turned his gaze to the distant hills and treetops on the outskirts of the battlefield. His fellow humans stood frozen in disbelief, their eyes locked onto him and the dead serpents. Even those hidden behind illusions and stealth skills did not escape his notice.
They played a major factor in why he headed to the Final Boss right away and did his best to kill it as fast as possible. Kill stealing, the most despicable act one could do in any game, next to mob tagging. Something that he'd done quite often for fun.
As such, he knew how they thought, and it was the reason why he did what he did.
He was about to call out to James when something made him pause. Without another word, James turned and leapt into the jungle’s canopy, slipping into the shadows as he raced toward their main camp.
With a quiet exhale, Archie leaned against the still-burning corpse of the serpent and pulled out a Health, Mana, and Stamina Potion, sipping them slowly as he took in the magnitude of what he had just accomplished.
His eyes drifted toward the smoldering remains of the marionette serpent—the scattered shards of its core glinting atop the mud, its shredded scales and torn, burnt flesh strewn across the battlefield.
His eyes lingered on the Infernal Flames that consumed both serpents from his amulet. Looking down at his amulet, which he was currently repairing, he lifted it off his neck and held it by the chain, staring at the dull red crystal in its center.
Amulet of Infernal (Uncommon):
A crimson amulet filled with the blood of an Infernal Minotaur, pulsing with dark energy during combat. As the wearer takes damage, their physical defenses increase. Previously used to hold the Infernal Flames of the Minotaur, but after strenuous use and certain conditions being met, the Infernal Flames stored within the amulet are now extinguished. Effects: Soul-Bound & Self-Repair. Provides: +50 Str, +20 End, +10 Vit. Status: Excellent. Requirements: Lv 60+ & Humanoid Race.
Infernal Shroud was now gone from the amulet.
Curious to see if there were any remnants of its runic script behind, something that he pushed to the back of his mind when he used Runic Amplification
Gaze of the Forgefather
Putting the amulet back on, Archie looked back at the flames that consumed the marionette serpent entirely, having no signs of dying out.
Bittersweet emotions filled Archie’s mind.
He’d wanted to kill the Final Boss all on his lonesome, and while he was ecstatic when he’d killed it, now that the immediate joy left him and he was now able to think back on what happened, it didn’t feel as deserved as he wanted it to be.
The Infernal Shroud that activated when he went under 30% Health, did far more than just cover them with flames.
It flooded his emotions with rage, far more…potent rage than what he’d ever felt before. The amount of vitriol and fury that flooded him when it activated consumed him entirely…
The adrenaline that was rushing through him at the time was something he kept down so that he wouldn’t recklessly jump down into their mouths and try something stupid like hacking away at them from the inside only to end up being burnt to a crisp by undeath flames with no way of escaping.
But the rage that flooded him from Infernal Shroud’s activation ripped off the lid he kept on his adrenaline and flooded him an uncontrollable amount of dopamine that, when meshed with the rage from Infernal Shroud… it overwhelmed him.
And while yes, he was indeed enraged at both serpents even back when it was still the Five-Eyed Serpent, it was nowhere near as extreme. He was filled with an intense rage towards the serpents, it made no sense. Random thoughts he had no business having flooded him until Last Stand
Thoughts such as: Protect the herd, Slaughter all serpents, The Infernal Flame consumes all, and many others.
But it also pushed him beyond what he thought was possible. For instance, it allowed him to push Adrenaline Rush
Effectively finishing the proverbial last 10% of the fight for him.
It felt bitter. As though he was competing in a competition and he’d spent countless hours practicing and preparing, and he was now in the finals, both he and his opponent were neck and neck, when suddenly a random person shot his opponent and disappeared.
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It felt a bit hollow, to say the least.
Releasing an audible exhale, Archie got up from the smoldering corpse of the Triarch Serpent, putting away the empty potion bottles and taking out a sandwich, making his way back to his cave.
Taking a bite out of the sandwich made his shoulders feel slightly heavier.
Walking through the devastated jungle towards one of the tunnels that led into his now-shared base, Archie was now fully regenerated but bare-chested and maskless.
Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried to reach out to the bond that the mask and chest had to his soul, they did not regenerate, nor did they appear in his spatial storage.
Opening his status page revealed that the status points he’d gained from them were removed. Seeing that he had 99 Free Points, he placed 39 in Wisdom, 30 in Strength, and 30 in Vitality.
Archie Gracefield
Race: Human E-Grade Lv 81
Class: Nature-Attuned Pugilist Lv 85
Profession: Novice Forgesmith Lv 75
Health: 6217/8590
Mana: 1744/3300
Stamina: 3248/7210
Stats:Vitality: 742 (859)
Strength: 1022 (1277)
Endurance: 627 (721)
Agility: 432 (475)
Intelligence: 336 (369)
Wisdom: 300 (330)
Willpower: 192 (230)
Perception: 409 (449)
Free Points: 0
General Skills:Class Skills:Profession Skills:Bloodline:Affinity:Blessing: Titles Collected:Tutorial Points:
It’d been a hot minute since he’d last opened his status page, and the sight of both his base Strength reaching over a thousand points and Tutorial Points now over two million made his previous mood vanish and replaced with pride and satisfaction.
After a couple more minutes of walking through the jungle, Archie felt the familiar weight of Bralmir’s presence land on his shoulder.
“Hey,” Arche smiled. “How’s it going?”
“Interesting, to say the least,” Bralmir answered. “After watching your fight with the serpent, which was fantastic, by the way, I’ve been catching up on missed information from my absence. Which was quite a bit...”
“Like what?” Archie asked, curious.
“Quite a bit, to be honest,” Bralmir replied with a sigh. “For one, Sigils of Challenge and the Pyre of Challenge weren’t a thing during Tutorials that I’d watch back before I took a leave of absence.”
“Really,” Archie replied, interested in what they had instead. “But was the format the same? Like the Tutorials that I’ve done, where you survive on your own or with a group.”
“The majority of them, yes,” Bralmir answered. “But there are other types of Tutorials such as ones where people who’ve chosen a Group Tutorial initially or who’ve caught the eye of a certain Tutorial Designer are sent to more specialized Tutorials.”
“For example, those who have strong Affinities towards specific magics are taken to Tutorials that are sponsored by multiple Factions and Pantheons in an attempt to get them to join. Which works almost always for obvious reasons,” Bralmir continued.
“Does my Greater Nature Affinity not count as a strong Affinity?” Archie asked. While he was glad, he wasn’t taken to the ‘special Tutorials’ as it would’ve meant he would’ve never met Thalindra and, subsequently, Bralmir. “It has the word great in it, and Thalindra was quite shocked about it.”
“No, it counts as one,” Bralmir answered before pausing for a few moments to collect his thoughts. “Which was a question that I’ve been searching for an answer as to why you were not sent to one when you were sent into a Group Tutorial.”
“But the System said I would be sent into a random Group Tutorial once the Solo Tutorial ended,” Archie chimed in. “Wouldn’t it mean that I just got bad luck with the Group Tutorial I got landed in?”
“Well,” Bralmir replied. “It's not truly random, especially with gods interfering and Tutorial Designers involved.”
“What do you mean then?” Archie asked, now confused.
“Many gods sponsor Tutorials and collaborate with their Pantheons and occasionally other Factions, and they do have requirements for who could enter them,” Bralmir answered. “It works the same way as Dungeons; if you meet the requirements, you can enter them, else you cannot. It's random for the majority of people, but those who pass certain requirements are sent to a random specialized Tutorial. So not entirely... completely random.”
“And before you ask, gods cannot manipulate the System in the way you think they can. They can’t force the system to do anything, no one and nothing can,” Bralmir continued.
“But then why would the System say it's random then?” Archie asked. “And why wasn’t I sent to one if that was the case? Do I not fulfill the requirements that they’re looking for?”
“You meet the requirements they’re looking for a hundred percent, and it is not because of the Blessing I’ve given to you; if anything, they would’ve fought tooth and nail for you to go into their Tutorial even if you had a poor Affinity,” Bralmir answered. “It is why I’m still confused as to why you were not sent to them.”
After a lengthy pause, Archie took out another sandwich to continue munching on as he neared the entrance of one of the tunnels that led into his shared base. “Are there any other types of Tutorials besides the survival type?”
"They vary quite a bit, especially since my absence," Bralmir answered. "From what I've read and confirmed so far: Coliseum Tutorials, typically sponsored by Avalon's Albion and other combat centric leagues; City Defense, where Tutorial Participants fend off waves of creatures and lead resource gathering expeditions; Undead Tutorials, for those who died shortly before integration, sponsored by the Undead Wake; Tournaments of Magic, where individuals with high affinities are guided by Assistants from various Factions to accelerate their growth and recruit them; and countless more."
“Huh, that’s cool,” Archie said, finishing up his lettuce-wrapped troll sandwich. “They sound a lot cooler than survival ones.”
Entering the tunnel, Archie made his way towards the central hub of the cave where he’d be able to find where Daniel was to continue practicing his Botanokinesis
Of which he quickly went through and found that the only skill that looked to be worth it was Earthen GraspBotanokinesis
“I have two more questions for you,” Archie said. “What happens to the Final Bosses and Mid Bosses people fail to kill at the end of the Tutorials? And is there anything I should buy at the Bazaar at the end of the Tutorial?”
Apparently, the Tutorial shop was called a Bazaar, something that he learned from the coupon he’d received from the Final Boss Quest rewards.
“They would be released onto Earth after the completion of the Tutorial,” Bralmir answered before searching through a list he’d been provided of potential purchases Tutorial Participants would be able to make.
“I recommend you purchasing Basic Workshop and metals for you to experiment with,” Bralmir suggested.
“What’s a Basic Workshop?” Archie asked. “Is that some sort of forging room I’d be able to rent out in the Bazaar?”
“You’ll know it when you see it.” Bralmir smiled before his presence disappeared, and the weight on Archie’s shoulders lightened.
Archie released an audible groan of annoyance.
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So I've been looking at my calendar and noticed that between the second to last chapter and the last chapter of Act II there is a break day where I don't post anything (Saturday). Would you rather I post the second to last chapter and the last chapter together on the same day (Thursday) and on Saturday you don't receive a chapter? Or just keep the schedule as it is?
