| Attempting to increase rank to D

| Requirement met: Mastery of a Concept

| Purchased: Rank Up (D) | -100,000 AP

| Reward used: Agility Up (D-)

| Remaining AP: 9,202

Shen had been midair when he purchased the rank-up, and the system stopped his fall. He was kept floating, arms and legs stretched.

As the system improved him, he felt his mind expand more than any other part of himself. It took a burden off of him that he hadn't realized he had been bearing. His mind had been able to deal with a mastered Concept, but it had been stretching him, not unlike a half-formed baby in a womb.

Shen could now tell that three Concepts would be his limit at E-rank, but each extra Concept stretched him more than just another half-formed baby. Three Concepts would be like three two-year-olds in a woman's belly. Theoretically spatially possible—or so Shen guessed—but definitely not healthy, desirable, wise, or even easy to accomplish.

Not that his half-formed Conceptual baby had been easy on him either. Humans were simply not made to touch upon the secrets of Reality like that. Shen was confident cultivating could remove that limiter; after all, strong cultivators dealt with Laws, not just Concepts. However, it probably took time. Fortunately, he had just solved it by simply ranking up.

Shen felt his soul expand, too. Unlike his mind, it felt inwards. He recognized for the first time how deeply linked to his soul his mind was. Around half of his mind was hosted in his soul.

Most impressive was realizing he could fight against the system's changes if he wanted. His Path was himself, and in mastering a Concept, he had become a master of himself too—even further than what he had gained when completing his Path. It wasn't an absolute master of self, for War was just part of his Path, but he just knew he could pull off a fight against the system if he wanted.

He didn't want to impede his evolution, so he let it do its thing. His body became even lighter than the last time. His muscles, bones, and tendons were pushed to a new limit to bring him to D- agility.

He noticed something interesting as that happened. Now that he was a master of himself, he could tell his body had still room for improvement, but after a certain point, he would need to turn into something more to increase his stats. His next cultivation realm, Ethereal Harmonizing, supposedly changed his existence. So it seemed the C-rank and the next realm were linked like the E-rank and the Fate Origin realm had been.

While Shen ranked up, he saw that everything had stopped in the battle: the golem, the people, even the spells. That all but confirmed his theory; the system would not protect people ranking up, but the Pioneer Tutorial did, at least this once. This was a finely crafted point of ascension.

The rank-up took a long time. His body and soul were once more reconfigured, though the former didn't suffer too many drastic changes. His muscles decreased in size a little more as he willed it, but his appearance didn't change further; he had already reached perfect symmetry in the last rank-up. This time, the changes were primarily internal.

His sight improved greatly. He could see the tiniest details of the grass at a ridiculous distance. He could see the pores in people's faces from where he stood.

His mind's expansion was also more significant than he had expected. He guessed it was preparing it for the next step, touching a Law. That was definitely much grander than anything he had ever considered.

Shen also became able to feel his soul at a thought, and his ability to impart will upon reality was expanded. He could now push Zephyr Qi a dozen feet around him and any other Concept Qi a few inches at least, depending on how much he knew of them and how expansive they were. Sharpness, for instance, cared nothing for leaving a blade, while Boundlessness would go even further than Zephyr.

The changes and advantages were such that Shen was in awe of how cultivators of the Eternal Empire accomplished their great deeds without the ability to rank up like this. It also explained why they took so long to advance while he rushed to greater power. It wasn't just the stats; the previous unnoticed changes to his mind on the rank-ups also aided him significantly.

Still, he wondered if that wouldn't affect him negatively. Perhaps training his mind to expand from the beginning would have taught him something valuable he would now miss or have a harder time learning. Maybe he was supposed to be able to move his qi further from his body than he could with the rank-up assistance.

Whatever the case, the system refilled his health, stamina, and qi. That was a nice touch for this moment.

Shen was also confident his learning ability increased slightly, maybe by one or two points. He wondered if the wisp had just lied to him about it not happening on rank-ups or if it was just an exception that wasn't in the curriculum.

Whatever the case, it helped him make extra associations about his Concepts as he waited for the upgrade to finish. It would assist even more once he stopped to meditate. But that was for later.

Now, he was being slowly put on the ground.

The rank-up had ended, and it was time to kill a final boss.

Shen's feet touched the grass, and the world resumed moving. He rushed towards the golem.

Alicia's body was frozen with everything, but her mind kept working. She watched Shen go through what looked like a rank-up. As soon as he was finished, she Inspected him.

| Feng Shen (D) | 200 / 200 HP

| True Pioneer

There was a new line below his HP. She Inspected it too.

Achievement: True Pioneer

The first participant of a race's Pioneer Tutorial to master a Concept.

Reward: One free stat upgrade from E+ to D-. Must be used while upgrading to D-rank.

He had gotten an Achievement. Everyone was fighting like crazy to get a very limited one, eighty spots for their entire race, and he had gotten one that no one else in humankind could have.

Alicia smiled; that was Shen for you.

"That decides it for me," Evelyn said. Alicia turned to the girl, who continued, "We have to talk."

The two of them were the last mages alive of the sixteen-year-olds. Scott was also still alive, to no one's happiness except his. No resistance fighter remained, and Bob was the other agility fighter still around, together with Shen. Of the less than one hundred people remaining, five were of their age group—one in every twenty. That was a very, very good result.

"Do you want me to kill myself now?" Alicia asked.

She was five hundred points of contribution below Evelyn. That way, if Evelyn died, Alicia would have enough time to kill herself before surpassing the other girl's points. But maybe Evelyn didn't trust Alicia and wanted Alicia to bail now.

"The opposite," Evelyn said with a serious tone. "I thought a lot about what you told Shen in that conversation about the future of humankind. You were right; he's our greatest hope. And the more help he has, the better."

"So?" Alicia asked, confused. She had no idea where that was going.

"So I burned that bridge," Evelyn replied. "He doesn't like me; he even refused help from my gravity in this fight." Alicia had seen them talk during training but hadn't been told the contents of the conversation; it had been about it, then. "I want you to support him for all of us, all of humanity. Stay by his side and help him. That will probably be easier with an Achievement, so I want you to have it."

Alicia squinted her eyes. She knew people like Evelyn, who saw others as tools. None of them would do something like this. Alicia felt utterly lost about what the hell was going on.

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "Look, Achievements will become political strength, and I will use mine against Shen if I seem fit. I don't want to have that kind of power. I... I don't trust myself." She sighed. "The way he was willing to protect you also revealed an uncomfortable truth about me. I want to protect humankind from shitty Guardians, but I couldn't even protect a dear friend. I didn't even notice my friend needed the protection, and when he was expelled from the tutorial, I didn't even care much about it. I'll learn from my mistake and do my best, but an Achievement will not assist so much with that. I have money, influence, and an excellent Path already. However, if you get the Achievement, it might help you and Shen more."

Alicia still didn't know what to answer. She didn't believe Evelyn's sincerity; what kind of ploy was this? Was it one of those owed favors that the mafia in the movies came to collect later?

"Don't make me regret it," Evelyn concluded and pushed her dagger into her neck.

She died staring Alicia in the eyes.

Alicia took a few moments to recover. She didn't know what to think of what had just happened, but she did want the Achievement, and she agreed that it would be better for Shen to have another Pioneer—other than him—in his camp.

So she turned to the boss and started shooting fireballs against it.

Shen didn't climb the steps this time. Instead, he went straight for the golem's feet. It tried to kick him, but he dodged quickly to the side, then thrust with his spear.

His spear and arm pierced the electric coating around the boss. Shen felt the electricity invading his body, but he fought it head-on with War Qi. His mastered Concept gave him enough control over his body to stop it from spasming and crushed the electricity as it coursed through his arm. Little by little, it lost power and was entirely gone by the time it reached his shoulder.

That was a great demonstration of the power difference between an unmastered Concept and a mastered one. Before mastering War, Shen would just get electrocuted to death upon contact with the golem. Now, he withstood the pain, took only a dozen points of damage, and would be able to leave right after his attack.

His spear hit the metal. He ignited a spark with Arc Flash. A powerful explosion pushed against his spear.

Shen left right after. The blast hit him, but War Qi once more greatly decreased the damage he took. His attack had been costly, he took 37 points of HP in the end, but it had been worth it.

| Titanic Metal Golem (D) | 2,108 / 50,000 | -121

A hundred twenty-one points of damage. It was the equivalent to two hundred forty-two points before the damage to weak spots had been halved. Shen kept smiling as he filled his spear with qi once again, somersaulted, and threw his weapon at the boss.

It hit right beside a fireball, as everyone was still attacking the golem.

| Titanic Metal Golem (D) | 1,912 / 50,000 | -42

Without the power of his stats, spear art, and footwork behind the spear, the damage was much lower than before. However, if doubled and compared to his damage before, it was also greater. That was pure extra War damage, and War wasn't a Concept that focused so much on individual damage output.

Shen didn't need to, but he climbed the steps again to let the remaining warriors and agility fighters have an easier time on the ground. While he was there, the golem moved its feet too much for the fighters to be comfortable. He kept throwing his spear, and soon enough, the boss reached 1,000 HP.

Once more, it looked to the skies and roared.

Tutorial - Final Stage - Final Boss

You've reached the second of two HP thresholds.

The boss will go through the following changes until it kills everyone or dies:

- Some restrictions were removed from the already unlocked weaponry

- Attacks containing non-mastered Concepts can only deal 1 point of damage

If all evidence hadn't been enough until now, this was proof that the Pioneer Tutorial was meant to produce a D-rank, or at least someone with a mastered Concept. The desperation of being so close to killing the golem yet so far might even be the extra push someone needed to master a Concept.

The dozens of lightning balls floating around, throwing bolts directly below them, turned into hundreds. They occupied almost all the battlefield and moved at E speed now. That alone instantly crushed a third of the survivors.

Another third was killed by the instant expansion of the boss' electric field. It increased from five feet to fifty. All warriors and a couple of agility fighters died. Only thirty mages and three long-ranged agility fighters, plus Shen, remained.

The roar was also much more powerful than the last time. It crushed all islands at once, and Shen took a few points of damage even as far from the top as he was.

The golem instantly used its rotating arms again as Shen was falling. He used a mix of an Arc Flash and Zephyr to push himself away midair, but he was still struck and thrown far away like a slapped bug.

The hit didn't kill him for one reason only: his body was filled with mastered War Qi.

| Feng Shen (D) | 51 / 200 | - 112

He hit the ground hard. The shock from the attack ruptured veins, hurt organs, and snapped bones. He instantly crushed his healing crystal to recover 100 HP and bought another to replace it. Then he rushed back to the boss.

Shen didn't need to worry about close-ranged allies anymore, as they were all dead, so he gladly kept to the ground and threw his spear again.

| Titanic Metal Golem (D) | 952 / 50,000 | -31

The extra length of electric arcs around the golem protected it a little more from his attack. The mages also had to throw more potent spells, while arrows were utterly destroyed before reaching the golem, making the remaining agility fighters useless.

Shen had no trouble avoiding the boss' kicks and stomps, not with all his advantages. The golem even started trying to punch him, but such attacks were slower than its feet and thus stupid.

Shen kept a constant stream of attacks while dodging. Unlike how it happened with the weak spots by the neck, he didn't have to throw the weapon far away or fall and climb again to arrive at a place he could make the next throw from. He threw the spear, it hit, returned to his hand, and he immediately threw it again. The whole thing took about one second only.

The golem regenerated 20 HP per second. Shen dealt 31 damage per second, and the mages also contributed a little.

It was only a matter of time until they won. There should be no surprises. The system had said there would be only two thresholds, and they had already met both.

Yet, when the golem hit 100 HP, they got a new message.

Tutorial - Final Stage - Final Boss

You've reached the third of three HP thresholds.

The boss will go through the following changes until it kills everyone or dies:

- Attacks containing non-mastered Concepts can no longer damage it

- Damage from all other sources halved

Suddenly, Shen's throws dealt 15 damage, no one else could damage the boss, and it regenerated 20 HP per second.

Shen found himself at a crossroads.

Should he let go of this fight and train for the next couple of days—they still had three remaining—hoping for a breakthrough on another Concept? It was likely he could do it now that he had mastered one Concept already and had had his learning ability improved.

Or should he risk his Alliance Points for a victory now? He had eight thousand AP remaining, and he was confident he could enter the field and survive if he was willing to buy enough healing crystals.

What made him decide was the first line of the system's message, talking about three thresholds instead of two. The system had lied to him. It had changed the rules at will. That meant the next fight might not have the same rules or thresholds as this one. Now was the time to kill the golem—before the system got any ideas.

So Shen said, "Buy eight healing crystals and another belt to store them," then sprinted toward his enemy.

| Purchased: Healing Crystal x8 | -8,000 AP

| Purchased: Any Equipment (G) | -10 AP

| Remaining AP: 192

The belt with eight small containers materialized around his waist, each with a crystal. Shen got into the electrical field, moving at the max speed he could, using everything he had: D- agility, level six D+ footwork, and the Concepts of Boundlessness, Flow, Zephyr, Combat, and even Arc Flash, in that order of effectiveness. He also pushed all the Boundless Qi he could around him, creating a three-dozen-foot-wide field around him that refused to be pinned down or blocked by electricity.

It felt like jumping in a lightning pool while inside a glass bubble. Bolts came from all sides, trying to hit and kill him. The qi field crushed ninety percent of them all, and the War Qi inside his body almost completely negated any bolt that struck him, though he still took minor damage.

There were so many bolts that the damage piled up, and Shen took a hundred points of damage to reach mere ten feet in. The pain was terrible but nothing like what he had felt in the tribulation—or so he told himself as he clenched his jaws, crushed a healing crystal, and continued.

The electric arcs became more numerous and potent the closer he got to the golem. To hit the midway point, he had to crush another two crystals. To get ten feet from it, another two. To get right beside its foot, yet another.

He had used six healing crystals just to attack; only three remained.

But he was close enough by then.

Shen pushed all his fury at being lied to, all his frustration at his weakness, all his hopes for absolute power, and all his Concepts on his attacks. The boss had already recovered a little HP in the time it took Shen to buy his crystals and arrive.

Shen didn't care.

He swung his spear once, using Arc Flash on both sides of his spearhead. That way, it wasn't thrown back too hard by the explosion actually supposed to hurt the golem.

| Titanic Metal Golem (D) | 76 / 50,000 | -56

He swung it a second time so fast that the boss only recovered one HP between the attacks.

| Titanic Metal Golem (D) | 21 / 50,000 | -56

He crushed a healing crystal just in case of any hidden triggers and swung his spear a third and final time.

| Titanic Metal Golem (D) | 0 / 50,000 | -22

Then he ran, expecting hidden surprises or maybe even another boss.

All lightning died at once as the enormous thing started falling. It had raised one of its feet to stomp Shen, but it never finished the movement. It froze and fell like a tree and hit the ground hard. A few seconds later, it turned into motes of light and disappeared.

All survivors looked in wonder but didn't dare believe in their victory yet.

They all felt as wary of the tutorial as Shen did after its lies.

| Titanic Metal Golem (D) | 192 → 814 AP

Tutorial - Final Stage - Final Boss

Congratulations!

You have defeated the final boss and completed the Pioneer Tutorial!

After an extra moment of suspicion, the twenty-seven survivors—a few more had died to the moving balls of lightning—either fell exhausted on the ground or cheered.

Shen clenched his fists, raised his head to the Havens, and roared in triumph.

He had won.