William was confident that the Death Knight had been activated after the loud crashing sounds during when the soldier stumbled into the small hall before the stairwell. It was probably out there behind the first door, lance sword prepared and standing there menacingly. Just waiting for him to let it in. If William planned to continue farming for more runes, he would be required to reset its aggro and that meant figuring if there was a waiting time, which there likely wasn't considering this was no game, or to fight it again.
Either he killed it or it killed him.
He knew better than to expect to survive against something so powerful, but it was a convenient option to reset the entire playing field. William needed to get all of the Corrupted Dead back to their slumber so he could aggro them one at a time again.
William groaned as he got up from seat, he felt deep aching soreness in areas he hadn’t ever thought was possible. He headed towards the door and opened it. Just as he expected, he found the Death Knight standing there, looming and staring him down. He hoped that his increase in stats and level boost would help him notice even a shift in its movements.
It did not.
William felt the world go black as the Death Knight vanished from his vision. This time around it had not gone for a less immediate death inducing injury.
His eyes snapped open awake and staring at the ceiling of the cell he woke back up in the new safe zone. The welcome system message floated in the air where only he could see it.
Welcome back to the Tutorial…
There were a couple things he noticed as he sat back up. First and foremost was that he felt absolutely no fatigue or soreness in his body. Though his mind was starting to feel the effects of never having taken a wink of sleep for what felt like a few months, it was actually less than a day overall. Secondarily, his helmet had an awkward dent that had not been there before. This was the very first time he noticed a death affecting his gear like this. He could only hope that they didn’t have a counter for uses as well.
William made a mental note to hoard armor and weapons in the safe area in case that was the truth.
He shook his head as he stood up from the cold, hard stone of the cell. This time around he hadn't even noticed what happened to him, other than that he had died and revived back in his safe zone. He needed to figure out how to catch up to the Death Knight and give himself a chance to beat it. For now, it would be his litmus test for how strong he actually was. He left his cell and started to head back to the stairwell for more grinding.
“William?”
He didn’t turn around and only looked back enough to see the old man’s red skin tone. He waved back at him. “Yeah. Sorry, I’m about to go now. Was over thinking the entire–”
“Didn't you already go?” The old man said as he stepped towards him.
William stopped in his tracks and turned around to stare at the old man approaching him. He wondered if the ancient man could still remember everything before his death? Or did his memory reset with each loop? It was not a smart idea to test something like this out without precautions and especially against someone he figured to be one of the most powerful beings in the ruined city.
“Tell me, William. Weren't you fighting a corrupted soldier just a second ago?” The red man said as he took slow measured steps. “I watched this time. I made sure that you were still at the stairwell. I saw you die. Yet, as I search now, the Death Knight has returned to its spot. You are here again like last time. The world and all its shifts have returned to where they had once been all before you interacted with them.”
William started taking steps back. His heart began to beat against his chest and lungs hammering as the ancient man seemed to grow more imposing. The longer he spoke the more he seemed to grow in presence. It wasn't his physical size that grew, it was something else, something that seemed to tower over the entire area. A feeling of helplessness filled William's chest. The Death Knight was nothing compared to this.
He was being suffocated by just being in the vicinity of the old man.
I need to run!
“Come here,” he said.
William didn't even think about doing what he was told. He turned and bolted as fast as he could from the danger before him without a clue where he was going. Just trying to make distance between him and the predator he had no shot of fighting in a hundred lifetimes–
The world shifted around him. William’s feet sunk into the stone like it was water. Ripples cascaded in reality around him in the castle and everything else for only God knows how far. One moment he was a few halls down and the next he found himself directly in front of the old man without any momentum in his run. Standing there with his mouth open and eyes wide, unable to understand what had just happened around him.
He dropped his knees without preamble, unable to move his body.
The old man grabbed him by the neck and picked him up, holding him over his head. The top of William’s hair brushing against the ceiling of the hall.
“How'd you get it back, William?” the old man said as he squeezed his hand and choked William. “How did you survive, William? What the hell happened, William? Why am I missing bits and fragments of memory, William!? Will you die if I snap your neck? Will you come back again? What the hell are you, William? Is your name even William? What’s your name, strange thing?”
William tried to speak, but found that he could not utter a single word. His words were taken from him no matter how he tried, no matter how much air he took into his lungs. Something was suffocating him and it wasn’t the hand that was squeezing around his throat. The monster before him had not needed to grab him to steal the very air from his lungs, he could have just flexed whatever it was that made him so imposing.
The old man shook his head. “I guess we'll find out right now.” He snapped William’s neck.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Darkness filled his vision.
William woke back up.
Welcome back to the Tutorial…
He jumped to his feet in a rush and tried to bolt out of the room. William slammed into what could have been a metal wall with how far back he bounced and sprawled, except that it was the old man standing in the gateway out of his cell. William felt his limbs tremble at the potential of what could turn out to be the worst thing to ever happen to him. Something he had no chance of changing or fixing.
“So you do revive after every death.”
Fuck this! I am not about to go down without a fight! I don't care if he is a thousand levels higher than me!
William pulled out his shield and sword, falling into a stance. “S-Stay back.”
Skill Unlocked -
[Fearless Earthling (A+)] [1/1]
Stand before a Destroyer of Galaxies without an ounce of hesitation!
Increase to all Stats permanently - (+8)
Temporary Increase to Stats when faced with anything 10 Levels above you - 5%
…25 Levels above you - 7%
…50 Levels above you - 10%
…100 Levels above you - 16%
…500 Levels above you - 20%
…1250 Levels above you - 25%
…2000 Levels above you - 29%
…
…
Increase to Stats when faced with anything 9000 Levels above you - 100%
Increase to Stats when faced with anything 12000 Levels+ above you - 200%
—
Currently facing a being over 12000 levels above you.
200% increase to all stats activate.
William felt his equipped armaments turn into heavy slabs of weight he struggled to pick up. Not because of anything the ancient, galaxy destroying, old man had done, but rather the understanding of what stood before him. What system? What loop? What stats? He felt hopelessness and fear fill his chest for exactly one second before his new skill, [Fearless Earthling] activated and strengthened his resolve.
“Stay back? Son. You are ten thousand years too young to tell me what I should or should not do. Ten thousand more to dare stand before me so defiantly. You stand no chance. Be a good child and do what I tell you to do. Maybe you'll survive just a bit longer this time around–”
The old man stopped speaking as he studied him. He tilted his head left and right, the dancing flames in the halls framed his visage like some horror movie.
“–Oh? You gained so many stat points so fast? Is this the real you or… no. I feel the activation of a new skill. That smell is so refreshing, it's almost addicting, you know. Or maybe not. You are still a baby in the grand scheme of things.”
He's right. I can't fight my way out of this. Not against something over twelve fucking thousand levels above me. I need to figure out how to talk my way out of this somehow.
William lowered his weapons and his shield slowly, though he did not send them back into his inventory.
“Good,” said the red man as he fully stepped into the room. “Now. There are only two options for us to explore. Either you tell me what I want to know when I ask you. Or you die and keep dying until you lose your sanity. I have eternity to sit here and play this game of eradicating you. Plus, I noticed you did not vanish and reappear in a different spot. I doubt you have control over that matter either. All in all, you're screwed. Very, very screwed. Not so special, Williams, who so happens to be very, very special.”
William cleared his throat. “Maybe you can give me a name to go by now?”
The red man froze in his spot, before he broke out into loud hearty laughter, slapping his thigh and holding his stomach. Very reminiscent of what he had done the first time they met. He wiped away a tear from his eye and waved his hand. Two rickety chairs made of old wood appeared from thin air, then a table of the same make, and lastly two cups and a pitcher of water on the table. It all reminded him of an interrogation room.
He assumed that the old man had access to an inventory much greater than anything he could ever imagine.
“Sit. You can call me… Zefor. A name I had once been called during my earliest days. A forgotten name.” Zefor sat down on one of the rickety chairs and poured himself a cup of water. He took a couple sips while watching William.
William did as he was told and copied Zefor, pouring himself a cup of water and began taking sips–
Heavenly Water Consumed -
+ 100 Runes
His eyes widened into saucers and quickly took another small sip.
Heavenly Water Consumed -
+ 100 Runes
What the hell…
William looked back up to see Zefor’s smug expression. The old man knew this was going to happen and did it to flex anyway.
“Let us not waste anymore time. What code does your system give you?”
William frowned and took two more sips. He had to figure out how much he wanted to tell Zefor and how much to keep secret, or what parts were more vital and which parts would end up putting him in an early grave. Yet, that was not as easy simply due to him having no point of reference to go off of to make those decisions. William would have to play it by ear all depending on what he saw and how much the person before him asked. He would not give more than what he was asked specifically.
He hoped the old man would not ask the more pertinent questions.
For some reason he had doubts about that.
“Code Black (Loop).” William said, pouring himself another cup. He had already gained twelve hundred runes already. Each cup was basically another level up or two.
“Code black? No numbers, letters, strange symbols?”
William shook his head.
“And this system of yours? It does what exactly? Explain. In great detail please.” Zefor took his second sip, ignoring William taking advantage of the [Heavenly Water].
William licked his lips. He wasn't going to mention the multiple classes that he could gain and would keep everything he said around the looping system and its functions. “Every time I die, I wake up in a safe zone. One that is prompted by the system.”
“This cell is your safe zone I'm assuming? Do you have any other safe zones?”
“I'm not quite sure. I'm unfamiliar with the system and how it functions, only that it prompted me to accept this place as a safe zone and revive to it. The original area was the cell I arrived in through when I slipped down the stairs back on earth. How I got here? What that process looked like? What caused it to happen? All of those are questions I do not have answers to.”
“You don't know, huh? Can't blame you for that. I'm assuming that your world, your planet just went through system initialization recently, correct?”
William shrugged. “I was running to work, slipped off a set of stairs and the world turned black around me. I don't remember anything else. It had been a normal day. No floating letters or words, no timer, nothing like that.”
“Guess you got lucky, boyo. It wouldn’t have been a pleasant experience, I’ll have you know. Being within an area of a new system initialization tends to get very… bloody. Many a planet has been rendered completely uninhabitable. Let's hope that your race survived it. Now tell me, what drawbacks do you have after every death. There are certain rules to code errors, certain things that govern their abilities. Of them, drawbacks always exist, some greater than others.”
“I lose all the runes held in my system at every death. Though a [Rune Orb] waits for me where I died so I could pick them back up. Otherwise, I haven't seen any other great disadvantages or advantages.”
A massive smile spread across the old man's face. His fangs were far more prominent now.
William gulped. He had a bad feeling about this.
“So. What part do I start torturing you for? Which hidden truth should I begin punishing you for?”
“W-Wait what…?”
