Congratulations! You have survived the first half of the Tutorial.

The Emergence will begin in 48 Hours. Prepare yourselves.

The mean average level of all Tutorial Instances is 3.32

The average level of Tutorial Instance 7eG659hj is 4.23

The average level of Tutorial Instance 7eG659hj is in the 99.9th Percentile!

Emergence difficulty set to Nightmare

Remaining preparation time : 1:23:59:14

Remain duration of the Emergence : 5:00:00:00

Good Luck!

Hint : Kill the most beasts to gain special rewards at the end of the Emergence.

Octavius read through the message once before reading it again. Across from him, Ava cursed aloud, “What the hell?”

The frown that had appeared on his face when the screen appeared deepened. “Do you have any idea what this Emergence is?” he asked her.

Before he had even finished speaking, she was shaking her head. “No,” she said, “I’ve got no idea.”

She stood quickly and grabbed her wooden spear. “I’ve got to go,” she called to him as she jogged off towards Sanctuary. He could hear her muttering as she ran off, “Ugh! Why did it have to be today!”

He himself continued to eat as he tried to puzzle out what was happening. Judging by the difficulty, this is some sort of challenge, he thought while his jaw chewed mechanically, but why is our average level so high? I guess that the average level in Sanctuary is between three and four. Is there another group of people that are isolated and all have high levels?

The question itched at the back of his mind as he finished his meal. While he bent over and removed the pot of boiling water from the fire, he thought about it. The whole situation didn’t sit well with him. While he might not have an answer to that question at the moment, he needed to decide on a course of action.

The message hinted that the Emergence had something to do with killing beasts. Perhaps a massive swarm of beasts will attack the Sanctuary? That seemed plausible, but he had no evidence for that theory beyond that the Emergence was a challenge and included beasts.

What could he do that would help in the largest variety of situations? He definitely wanted to be in a position to gain the rewards the system screen mentioned in the hint. Beyond that, if he could do something to help out Sanctuary, he should.

In his mind, after taking care of James, he had no enmity with Sanctuary. He even held some favorability towards them. After all, the innocent people and children didn’t deserve to be in such a dangerous situation. He had seen enough in his life to more than prove that people almost never got what they deserved, but if he could help tilt that statistic in a favorable direction here or there with minimal risk to himself, why not?

Even with his goals determined, he still didn’t have an immediate course of action. He broke down what he wanted to do. First, he wanted to survive. Next, he wanted as many of the innocent people of Sanctuary as possible to survive. Finally, he wanted to kill as many beasts as he physically could.

Now with his goals in mind, he thought about what he could do to increase his chances of achieving those goals. Without a solid idea of the incoming threat, he could only make broad preparations and hope that they would be helpful.

Of the things he could do to help him survive, the most apparent was collecting potions. Every single person came to the tutorial with three of each type of potion. He could use one per day, and the Emergence, whatever it was, lasted for five days. That meant that, optimally, he needed five of each type of potion. He had a health potion, two stamina potions, and two mana potions. Now he needed to discover where he could get the remaining potions he needed.

Sanctuary had them, that was for sure. The most valuable to them would be health potions, while they would have almost no use for mana potions. Stamina potions likely fell somewhere in the middle. His mind wandered to the market Ava had told him about. That was likely his best chance to get them without stealing.

He took a quick mental inventory of the valuable things he had on him that he would be willing to part with. After a few moments, he knew what he could trade. His hand dug into his rucksack and removed his various medical supplies and his combat knife. After removing the scissors from a medical kit and placing it back in his rucksack, he looked over the selections.

While his first aid kit, trauma kit, and tourniquets were not the most useful thing to him with his vitality and level, they would be in high demand with the Sanctuary. He had discovered he healed incredibly quickly, even without potions, something that had only been increasing with his level and stats. In Sanctuary, which was filled with low-level people, who would waste a health potion on a small wound that could be healed with a first aid kit?

His combat knife, on the other hand, was still useful to him. The difference was that now he had mana manipulation. Without the glow caused by the dagger when it was used, he favored it far more than the steel combat knife.

He didn’t doubt that he could get what he needed with those items, but the logistics of doing business in the market would be difficult. There were two options apparent to him. The first was for him to sneak in and hope no one used identify on him while he was visible. The second one was to have Ava trade on his behalf.

He decided to sneak into Sanctuary later that night and find Ava. The route from her secret entrance to her living area was still fresh in his mind. She could do the trading for him, but that left multiple hours of free time before he could be sure she’d be in her living area.

What else could help him to achieve his goals? Perhaps obviously, becoming stronger would help, but there wasn’t a way for him to do that within the two days he had. He also had all the equipment he would need.

He’d like to have a gun, but they would be much more helpful to the people of Sanctuary than to him. There was an extremely high chance that he had a higher proficiency with firearms than anyone else within the tutorial, but he knew that guns weren’t nearly as effective as his spear against a high-level beast.

The Special Operations Captain inside him came to the forefront. He was well equipped and had next to zero intel. What could he do to increase his odds? The answers came quickly. If the Emergence lasted five days, he would need to secure food and water for that whole time. Resolving to smoke enough meat to last the next few days that night, he moved on to his next idea. If he didn’t have intel on the enemy combatants, he should gain as much intel as about the field of battle.

That was exactly what he needed, something to do right away. If he moved light, he could cover extraordinary distances at a sprint. He could travel even farther if he decided to use a stamina potion. While asking someone from Sanctuary about the area would help, he would never trust someone's word of mouth description of the terrain with his life.

He kicked dirt over the fire and packed his rucksack, using the now cooled water from the pot to refill his water bladder. After scrambling deftly up a tree, he secured it there along with his spear. Now they rested high above the heads of any passers-by along with the antler of the level 35 deer. He still wasn’t sure what he would do with it, but there wasn’t any harm in keeping it up there.

He pictured a map of the area in his mind. The Sanctuary was slightly south of east relative to his position. In his mental map, he included the small creek and thinning forest to the north and the large river and hill multiple weeks travel to the east. Studying his mental map, he decided where to start. He would circle the Sanctuary clockwise to learn about the area to the south and west of it.

He took his compass from his belt and checked his orientation. Turning, he broke into a run. His pace matched a professional athlete’s sprint in speed, but he knew he could keep it up for hours. As his boots pushed him forward against the grass, rocks, and tree roots, he scanned his surroundings. Whenever he found something notable, he marked it on his mental image of the area.

The ground sloped gently upward below him as he ran. He took note of a large boulder to his left. The pale grey stone was relatively round in shape and over twenty feet across. Its shape and position buried in the soil like an ancient sentinel reminded Octavius of the boulders left by retreating glaciers in the northeast. The boulder would offer a commanding view of the surrounding woods and an advantageous position in combat should he require it.

As he ran, the trees around him seemed to change in species. While there had been a large variety of trees throughout the forest, in this section, he found a species he had never seen before. Their trunks were irregular and covered in a thin, pale bark. They were large, maybe four or so feet in diameter on average. They were also slightly shorter than the tall trees running perpendicular to the ground around them.

He made a note of his position using his compass and pace count. These trees were strange enough that they could be useful. They had many branches that seemed to stretch out horizontally, parallel to the ground. He could think of half a dozen situations that the trees could be counted as useful.

After thirty minutes, the ground stopped sloping upwards and began to tilt down at a much steeper angle. Slowing to maintain his balance, he moved down that steep incline. The sound of rushing water reached his ears, and he saw a break in the trees ahead.

Bursting through the treeline, he came to a fast-moving but shallow river. The river’s banks were lined with rocks, and the river was about two dozen yards across by his estimation. His side of the river was undercut slightly by the fast flow of the water. The other side, however, had a gradual slope that led to the water’s edge.

He guessed that he would eventually come to the Sanctuary’s border if he followed the stream to the west. He knew that the southwestern edge of the Sanctuary was along a river’s bank. It made sense that this was that river.

Turning to the right, he ran along the side of the river bank. The river curved gently to the north before cutting sharply south again. The stream was meandering back and forth, something that could be valuable knowledge to Octavius.

The meanders of the stream formed a natural choke point for any invaders or beasts that wanted to get to the Sanctuary from the south. If the meanders continued past the Sanctuary, that would be even better.

After running along the river bank for a while, he soon came to the first signs of the presence of other humans. It was an easy choice to cross the river to avoid them. While the water was fast-moving, it was shallow. The wet rocks were free of moss due to the river’s speed, and he barely had to get his thighs wet to cross it.

Once across, he continued, marking locations and landmarks that might offer any advantage in his mind. He passed the Sanctuary, watching many people sit along the river’s far bank from just within the tree line. Some of the people were relaxing, some playing, and others doing work. He saw more than one person washing clothes or gathering water in various containers.

The people, oblivious to his passing, continued with their days as he ran past them to continue his work.

The sun was setting when he returned to his campsite. He had decided not to use one of his stamina potions on his surveying run and was thus quite tired. The muscles in his thighs and calves were sore even after he had washed off in the creek to the north and jogged the way back to his campsite. He carried the body of a low leveled deer over one shoulder that he planned to smoke for rations during the Emergence.

By the time he got back, only his clothes and hair were even slightly damp from his washing off in the cool water. He took his rucksack down from the tree branch and drank deeply from the water bladder. It was cool from being in the shade all day, and while refreshing, had nothing on the cold crystalline water of both the river and the creek he had used to hydrate on his run.

Picturing the area surrounding the Sanctuary in his head, he went over what he had learned. He now knew that the creek was actually a tributary to the river and ran into it farther to the north. The Sanctuary itself was in a rather good defensive position. It was bordered by the stream to its south and west, and the creek to the north.

Out of those, the creek would be almost no obstacle to any opposing force, but the stream’s meanders would funnel mindless beasts into perfect killing zones. The beasts would run down the peninsula of land that formed the meanders, and then they would be slowed by the river crossing.

The eastern approach to the Sanctuary was the most open, only containing the dense forest that was nearly everywhere. There were, of course, the hills and massive river, but they were much too far away to be of any assistance with the Emergence, whatever it was.

He was tired from his run and starving. While he wanted to start a fire and eat right away, he knew that he should go and ask Ava about getting him the potions he required now. Slinging the rucksack onto his back, he stood again.

The walk to Ava’s hidden entrance to the Sanctuary was relatively short. The sky high above had faded from the brilliant golden color it had been, through oranges and reds. At the moment he reached the barrier that separated the Sanctuary from the surrounding forest, the fading purple remnants of the sun’s light was all that illuminated the trees around him.

Slipping the illusion ring on, he maneuvered through the throngs of people. The path was by far the busiest he had seen it. Not even when he had followed James and his hunting party back into camp during the day to discover the location of his lodgings was the Sanctuary so full of activity.

The activity wasn’t all standard things either. It appeared that the leadership of Sanctuary was taking the threat posed by the Emergence very seriously. He saw many people carrying materials to and fro. Some carried animal hides and others wood or bone. It was apparent they were preparing.

Good, Octavius thought, if they have good enough preparations, things might go well for them. I’ll ask Ava later, maybe give some advice if she needs it. Even though most of Octavius’s experience was with tactical-level planning, he didn’t doubt that he understood planning at the operational and strategic level to a greater degree than most.

It was difficult to avoid touching anyone and thus giving away his position, but he managed. Soon enough, he had reached the animal fur that served as Ava’s doorway. Inside, he could just make out the crackling of a fire over the general cacophony of the Sanctuary around him. There weren’t any voices inside, so he looked around. After being sure that no one was looking in his direction, he slipped off his ring and stepped through the flap and into the enclosed clearing.

Ava sat in front of a fire, using a stick to disturb the logs and embers within. Her piercing blue eyes snapped up to meet him as he entered. The expression on her face morphed into surprise and then quickly into confusion. “What are you doing here?” she asked in a curious tone.

Octavius grinned and sat across the fire from her. “I need some help, and you’re the only person I know in the Sanctuary,” he explained.

Ava now looked even more confused. “You... need my help?” she looked like she couldn’t fathom a situation that he needed her help enough to seek her out, “you do know that you’re multiple levels above me?”

Shaking his head at her, he responded, “Not with fighting. I need you to trade some things for me in the market. I can’t go because I don’t want anyone to use Identify on me.”

She nodded now. “Ok, sure. What do you need and what do you have to trade with?” she asked, before looking at the meat she was roasting over the fire, “Oh, and do you want dinner? I can throw some more on; I’ve got plenty.”

Octavius nodded appreciatively. “I’d love some,” he said before pulling his rucksack onto his lap, “And I need potions. Four health, three stamina, and three mana.”

She frowned at him. “Stamina is easy enough to trade for, and mana potions are worth next to nothing. The health potions, though? Those are expensive. Even before today, they were worth a lot. Now it’s hard to even find a seller.” she explained, “What do you have to trade?”

Octavius removed the knife sheath from his belt with the knife still in it and placed it in front of him on the ground. Ava’s eyebrows shot up at that. Next, he removed the various medical supplies from his rucksack, placing each one in a neat line next to the combat knife.

Ava whistled softly, “Wow. Yeah, you could get what you need with that. The tourniquets won’t be worth much with health potions around for serious injuries, but the medical kits will be worth a lot. And a steel combat knife? Honestly, I’ll buy it from you for two health potions and the mana and stamina potions you need.”

Octavius furrowed his brows, “I don’t want to take all of your health potions.”

She shook her head quickly, “I’ve stashed them over the past few weeks. Figured if I was going to go out hunting every day, I should have a lot. Even if I give you two, I’ll have three left.”

He nodded at that, “Ok, can you get the other two health potions with the medical supplies?”

She stood and walked around the fire, picking up a bag from the wall of the clearing, and piled the various medical supplies into it. “Yeah,” she said as she did so, “If I hurry, I could probably do it tonight before the market shuts down. It won’t be too hard to get health potions with what you’re paying for them.”

She walked towards the door of her private clearing and called over her shoulder, “You can put some more food over the fire to cook. I’ll be back in a few.”

Once she was gone, Octavius stood and walked towards where she stored her food. Without refrigeration, there wasn’t much there. It held some leafy greens, along with various root vegetables and a piece of meat from an unknown animal. Taking a sharpened stick he had in his rucksack for just these occasions, he cut the meat and roots into cubes before skewering them to make a kebab. After seasoning it, he returned to the fire and set it to cook.

Not a half-hour later, Ava returned. She smiled at him and passed him two health potions. “One second,” she said as she walked towards her makeshift tent, “I’ll get the other potions now.”

After she gave him the potions, he placed them into a pocket of his rucksack and rotated his kebab. With the smaller cuts of meat on his, it was finished cooking at around the same time as Ava’s dinner was, despite the differences in the time that they started cooking. They made small talk while they ate, speculating about the Emergence.

Ava told him about the Sanctuary’s preparations. Apparently, the situation with James had lost almost all focus on it as everyone scrambled to prepare for this new threat to their lives. The Sanctuary was really going all out, handing out guns and ammo to anyone with experience despite their limited supplies.

They planned to place teams with guns in the trees around Sanctuary to stop any threats that approached. Octavius was impressed by that idea; it was hardly foolproof, but it was a good one. Apparently, Ava’s friend Oliver had been coming up with a few good ideas that were being put into motion. On top of that, Ava told him about the other plans the Sanctuary’s leadership had made thus far, and Octavius filed them away.

Once they were done eating, Octavius replaced the rucksack onto his back and left. As soon as he was out of Ava’s line up sight, he slipped the illusion ring back onto his finger and made quick time back to his own campsite.

That night, he set up a makeshift smoker and set thin slices of the venison to cook. He had used a good deal of seasoning, but he knew that meat smoked for multiple days to preserve it would hardly be delicious.

He didn’t see Ava at all the next day. Instead, he continued to map out more of the area around the Sanctuary. After practicing with his spear and his various skills, he prepared his gear setup as well. His belt was rearranged to house his dagger in an optimal position, with the multitool and other pouches arrayed around his waist.

By the time night fell, every plastic bag he owned was filled with sterilized water and tied up in the tree in case he needed it, along with his rucksack, the antler, and the smoked meat he’d made. He went to sleep that night early to prepare himself for what would most likely be an eventful day.