***Noah McLay***

Noah McLay had been extraordinary since his childhood. A genius with close to two hundred IQ, he excelled both in studies and sport. Being the pride of his parents—a successful politician father and a well-known biologist mother—he received all the necessary support to achieve greatness as he grew.

The thing that had always inspired him was the potential of the human species. He didn't take his extraordinariness for granted and worked harder than anyone else to train his body and mind to perfection—until he realized that everything had its limit.

He had spent his adult life trying to find a way to break through the limits set by nature itself. And, to some extent, he succeeded. Using his deep knowledge of biology—be it neuroscience or biomechanics—he developed training regimes and chemical compounds to help renowned athletes to break world records and distinguished scientists to sharpen their minds for new discoveries. But he wasn't truly satisfied with the result of his work, for what it mattered if he couldn't overcome the passage of time?

As Noah had hit his forties, he started to feel the first signs of aging. He changed the direction of his studies to life extension technologies. Alas, the obstacles between him and his dream weren't something he ever hoped to overcome before running out of time.

Everything changed when Noah found himself far away from Earth, in the mysterious place called ‘The Tutorial’. The path towards his dream was already paved for him—clear and straightforward.

Noah McLay was one of the few people ready to become a Truthwalker as soon as they entered the Development Trial. By speaking to his Guide and examining the facilities, he concluded that the quickest way to greatness lay not in training, but in completing the Trials. And so, he proceeded to become the fastest among earthlings to clear the third Trial.

The fourth Trial was where, according to the Guide, he would get the first edge over the rest of humanity—by earning the Contribution Points, entering the Hall of Fame, and being rewarded with a Title. Unexpectedly, someone beat him to it.

Global Announcement!

The Pioneer of The New World had entered the Hall of Fame of Earth!

Current Rankings:

The Pioneer of The New World—22 CP, Bronze Level 7 Not Taken Not Taken

. . .

Not taken

Noah stopped in his tracks just when he was about to enter the fourth Trial. If the explanation provided by the Guide was true, then the existence of this Pioneer made zero sense.

If this person were the first to complete the fourth Trial, he would be Level 10 and have one hundred Contribution Points. The first was the completion condition and the second—the reward to the fastest winners. The Guide didn't know what to make of it, either. The android could swear that no one else had even entered the fourth Trial yet, let alone completed it—it wasn't even a day since the Tutorial had started, after all.

Noah shook off the unnecessary thoughts. It didn't matter. No one was going to stop him from leading humanity beyond their limits. If someone were better than him, then they weren't a competition but partners on his Path.

But when Noah eventually completed the Trial ahead of anyone else and earned his well-deserved Contribution Points, his was the only name in the Hall of Fame. The Pioneer of the New World had disappeared.

***Lex Lurker***

I entered the second floor of the building, my heart beating fast from the anticipation. I looked myself over and had a thought that maybe it was overkill, considering that my opponents were just five ordinary kobolds.

Almost an hour had passed since I had completed my transformation into the Truthwalker. In the meantime, I chose my Concepts and used the Free Shop Ticket to get the Stealth Cloak—after a short discussion with Ciesta, I picked it over the EF Generator. The business that had taken me the most time was finding a new set of clothes—the old ones were in tatters—and, especially, proper boots. Even with my high Balance, fighting in slippers wasn't the brightest thing to do. After searching one room after another, I found a pair of red Nikedas sneakers and socks that fit me perfectly. To match my footwear, I wore a dark blue sport suit instead of a white doctor coat.

Throughout most of my search, I hadn't stopped talking. Ciesta recommended me to train my Communication Skill whenever I could. Instead of listening to her lectures, like I usually did, I mostly narrated to her the plot of my favorite movies. It was more effective than I thought.

Communication reaches lvl 9. Your FATE is increased by 2.

Now, however, I walked through the walkway as an obscure ghost. The Stealth Cloak covered my whole body, its color changing to blend into the surroundings, making me close to invisible. Its material felt like smooth synthetic fiber to the touch, and when the stealth function was turned off, it was grey in color.

The hood of the Cloak covered my head, and at the point where the bottom of the hood was connected to the rest of the Cloak was a round mirror-like tablet about four inches in size. If necessary, the whole Cloak could be sent inside it as if the cloak contained a Storage Space of its own. I guessed that perhaps it actually had something similar.

"A-are you sure that I shouldn't have trained a little before using my abilities in a real b-battle?" I whispered to Ciesta, who I knew was around even if she couldn't be seen.

"It's more fun this way," her voice sounded from an empty spot right from me. "Of course, you also shouldn't forget that Essence isn't that fast to restore at your low Level, so you'll need to wait for a while to get back to your peak condition after this meaningless training."

"H-how long exactly?" I slowed my steps as we were not too far from our targets.

"Don't worry," she reassured without answering the question, "this fight should be the easiest one you’ve had so far."

I didn't doubt her words. After choosing all of my Concepts, I could feel a difference just by moving around. Mirage made me feel lighter, as if I lost some weight without my strength decreasing in the slightest. Wheel of Fortune, my first Secondary Concept, enhanced my intuition—I just knew that I'd win. Lastly, Solitude reminded me of days past when people just completely missed my existence. With my Clock, which was enhanced by the similar Loneliness Concept, I felt that the kobolds wouldn't notice me even if I stood right before them. I wondered if I should actually try doing this but decided against the idea. They still outnumbered me one to five, after all.

The unseen cat and I fell silent as we approached the branching part of the lonely hallway—one way continued forward, and the other turned to the right. The woofing voices of kobolds could be vaguely heard from the latter.

"Don't you guys think it's strange that no one has passed by us for the last couple of hours?" One of the kobolds asked his colleagues.

"Allek, have you spent too much time with that coward Lerg?" another voice ridiculed. "I'm sure that The Loyal already got rid of the intruder and reported it to our Chief. He just didn't feel a need to let us know, and as none of us has stood guard near the stairs for the past hour or so, it's only expected that we would miss him."

"Yeah, Allek, you worry too much!" the third voice added. "If the enemy really defeated one of the Elite Guards, we could do nothing against him anyway. Rather, in that case we would all be dead already, don't you think so?"

Their barks continued without any of the kobolds suspecting that their so-called intruder was just around the corner, listening in on their conversation.

I gently touched the Gear with my left finger and retrieved my new weapon from Storage. With the little fortune I had gained from getting into the Hall of Fame, I had bought a so-called Piercing-Type Weapon.

The smooth, bronze-colored spear six feet in length and an inch in thickness comfortably rested in my hand. Because I already had the Cloak occupying all of my Equipment Capacity, I couldn't properly use the spear for some time. Unequipping an item triggered a cooldown that prevented me from equipping anything else—ten seconds per one point of Essence Mass of the Unequipped object. So I would need to wait at least fifty seconds before using the spear.

According to the cat's explanation, before I had gotten my Gear, my Essence automatically connected me to any object in my hands that could hold it. This was why I had managed to fight using the machete despite not Equipping it properly. It wasn't as effective as it wasted my so-called Capacity, but it had worked back then. Now, though, my Essence was way more focused thanks to the Gear, but it also meant that I needed to connect weapons manually.

Honestly, I thought that I could manage even without the spear, but it would be my safeguard against a worst-case scenario, or just a way to train in melee combat in case the fight ended up being too easy. Instead of taking it with me, I put the weapon on the floor just before the hallway to the right that led to the ‘kitty prison’ and the five doggy-guards. I could've probably just taken my weapon with me, but from my understanding, it would be harder to cast magic with it in my hands. Despite it being simple both in looks and design, it had cost me forty Lesser Coins—ten LEC more than the scimitar. Even without any upgrades.

Controlling my excitement, I made my way closer to the doggies. The five of them still debated as they stood around the broad double doorway behind which I could hear some lively meows.

The kobolds didn't notice me even after I stood about thirty feet away in the middle of the corridor. It was only to be expected, considering that my Cloak made me semi-transparent, and my Stalking Skill and Concepts, accompanied by my Personal Trait, all worked together to hide me in proverbial broad daylight. Then again, the LEDs in the ceiling brightened up the place more than enough for the monsters to notice my presence under normal circumstances if I hadn't been such a stealth prodigy.

As things were, I had enough leisure and self-confidence to observe my prey lazily. So far, I hadn't really been in a situation where I needed to use the Gear's ability to Identify enemies, but now I was curious. I chose the most robust looking of them, the kobold with the face of a Bulldog.

Shadowbark Kobold Warrior

Type: Monster, Minion

Rank: Bronze, Level 10

That's it? That was my only thought as I shook my head in disappointment. I'd expected something more detailed.

The abilities provided by the Concepts were a part of me, of my mind. For this reason, I didn't need to practice or read a manual before using them. I just knew how to activate them—only a thought was enough.

Phantom Bolt, I made a mental command as an incantation for the spell started to escape my lips before I noticed. I tried to keep my words to a whisper, but it didn't seem necessary, considering that my opponents were almost shouting at each other at this point.

After speaking in rhymes in some unfamiliar and strange language, a semi-transparent white missile-shaped bar of energy materialized above my hand.

Hell yeah, I have magic! I thought cheerfully. Look, Ciesta, I'm a Harry freaking Otter!

The cat didn't reply, disappointing my inner comedian. She had told me that, thanks to my relatively high Willpower, I could control the already formed Spells better than others and even reinforce them after the pre-casting. I promptly willed more Mana into the so-called Phantom Bolt to make it stronger.

The initial spellcasting had taken around four seconds and three points of Mana. Now, I poured two more points over another five seconds, making the cylindrical manifestation of the Mirage Concept power grow from the size of a pinky finger to the size of a middle one. I felt that I could pour in even more Mana, but that it would take me progressively longer and be less cost-effective.

Its size wasn't big enough for my taste, but weren't bullets even smaller than this?

No one should underestimate a projectile because of its size. I smirked as I contemplated who would be the first of the doggies to test my magic power. Let's start with small fries and leave the big guy to the latter.

Other than the Level 10 Bulldog, everyone else seemed weak, and their Levels ranged from six to eight. I chose a Level 6 kobold with a short—even compared to his brethren—stature. He reminded me of my first foe, who had been close to taking my life in spite of being a Level 4 weakling.

Will you survive the power of a teenage wizard?! I pointed my finger at the unsuspecting doggie. Even he who must not be named lost to me!

With a flick of my will, the Phantom Bolt sped towards the Level 6, who was standing at the corner of the group, silently watching the heated debate. Maybe if we met in other circumstances, we could have gotten along like two fellow introverts, though I hadn't become one of my own volition.

There was no way for me to miss when the range was this close. Ciesta had mentioned that Clarity and Willpower were mostly responsible for the accuracy of magic, but that Balance played some role when it came to launching projectiles as well.

The bolt of Mana hit the kobold in his head. It happened so fast and so quiet that his companions didn't even notice at first.

Critical Hit!

A notification appeared in the corner of my eye, which I dismissed as I muttered the incantation for the same Spell again.

The Level 6 lost all of his EF and half of his Health, but wasn't dead yet. He absentmindedly looked at the other kobolds as he staggered from one side to another like a drunkard. Before he could come back to his senses, another Phantom Bolt hit his head, this time ending his life.

When the kobold's unharmed corpse fell down on the floor with a thud, the others stopped talking at once and started to look around the place. Some of them even glanced directly at me but didn't show any signs of noticing my presence.

It feels strangely nostalgic to be overlooked even when I'm standing right before someone, I thought. This time I'm not going to complain, though.

Without worrying about being found, I checked the notifications.

You have slain a [Shadowbark Kobold - Bronze, Level 6]. You receive a 20% EXP Penalty for killing a being below your Level. You receive 6 Lesser Essence Coins (LEC).

Quest notice: Shadowbark Kobolds slain: 9/10

You successfully killed your enemy in an ambush without being noticed by them or their allies nearby!

Ambush reaches lvl 6.

Stalking reaches lvl 6.

Just as Ciesta had mentioned, there was a serious penalty for slaying those weaker than you—a Player would get twenty percent less Experience per Level difference. Nonetheless, it was more than worth it considering that I could get easy money in this way. In fact, I guessed that farming low-Levels was probably the most common way to earn cash for Players all around the world.

Just one more to go for the Quest quota. . .

Before the kobolds could sniff my scent—which was probably the most likely way for them to find me—I sent another enhanced Phantom Bolt at one of them. The projectile hit the Level 7 kobold right in the back of his head, destroying his Essence Field and taking close to half of his Health.

My Critical Hits were strengthened by my Legendary-Grade Perk, unnaturally high Luck, and the passive ability of the Wheel of Fortune Concept. This was why I was a bit surprised that my Spell hadn't killed those kobolds in one hit and instead left them half-alive. It was something I needed to change—how cool it would be to one-shot enemies at the same Level as me?

This time I didn't have the leisure to read the notifications as the remaining three enemies took notice of me. The Level 7 was still disoriented, but the rest had already charged at me. The Bulldog seemed to be covered in a reddish hue of burning fire as he tried to close the distance between us—based on my new understanding of the Concepts, I assumed it to be the Fire Surge, which should have slightly improved his Strength and significantly increased the damage his attacks dealt. I could probably survive a hit from his stone mace, but I didn't plan to give him the chance.

It wasn't a coincidence that I had stayed thirty feet away from the group. I activated Secluded Rush—the Augmentation ability of the Solitude Concept. It had a very simple but extremely useful effect—it massively enhanced my Agility as long as there was no one too close to me. Ciesta had told me that her hidden presence didn't count, so I had no worries about the effect being interrupted.

Secluded Rush was a perfect ability for escape or to travel, even though it would be absolutely useless in close combat. The closer other living creatures were to me, the less the effect. Of course, it also considered things like the size and nature of a living being—insects and little birds weren't supposed to affect it much, if at all. It was supposed to feed on my sense of Solitude in some mysterious way.

The power of Vita—my Life Essence—filled my body with energy that allowed each step I took to bring me a dozen feet further. In a second, I was already almost at the end of the hallway, increasing the distance between me and the kobolds to fifty feet in spite of their attempt to catch up. I leaped at the left side of the fork—where the spear was waiting for me. At the same time, I started to cast my second Spell—Phantom Image.

I experienced barely noticeable dizziness but only for a moment as the illusion was successfully created, taking me only two MP and barely a second to cast. The vague copy of me ran to the other side of the hallway, catching the attention of the nearing kobolds and making them think that I chose the right side of the fork.

I myself picked up the spear, Unequipped the Stealth Cloak, which disappeared in the mirror tablet, and then hid in a room some distance away, waiting. Apparently, my magic was too powerful—strong enough for me to, most likely, get rid of all the kobolds with Phantom Bolts alone. It would be boring.

Hoping for a challenge, I gripped the spear and waited until the fifty-second cooldown passed. As I breathed heavily and my heart was pounding hard, I recalled something that Ciesta told me before. I glanced at the mirror-like tablet—at this angle, it reflected only the bottom of my face. And, sure enough, my lips had formed a confident grin without my knowledge.

The kitty was right, I concluded, I'm not normal.

But so what? I added as my smirk intensified.