Earth… or not. We landed on Idroa, an untamed planet more perilous in nature than homely, yet it was to be our home. It wasn’t all bad, however, as with the danger came opportunity, and with opportunity came heroes and villains.

Stefan Sommer - Chronicler - Heroes and Villains of the First Age

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Baby blue sky, gentle wind, swaying grass for as far as the eye could see - Silas knew this place: this was where it had all started, just twelve days prior although it now felt like a lifetime ago. He had been determined to change then, believing this to be his god-given chance. Silas didn’t think that anymore - certainly no god he knew of would have put them through such structured torture.

He had been a coward back then, and he wondered if that was still the case. When the mink had been carving up Aengus, he had stood and watched in fear, only moving at the sound of Mia’s cry. Regardless, he had moved in the end, hadn’t he? What did that make him then?

Silence answered his questions.

Had he even saved them in the end, or had they died because of his hesitation? Peering down, he saw the System had healed him all over, so surely it would have healed them as well even if Mia had been crumpled across the ground like a puppet cut of its strings and Aengus had his arms ripped off. He asked the System, and the System responded.

You have passed the extreme tutorial. You have been awarded a holy truffle for your performance.

“That’s not what I asked,” he said, sighing. Before he could mull on it any further, a vibrant blue truffle fell into his hands. He wondered what the System’s obsession was with truffles, and waited for it to continue, only to realise it was waiting on him to eat it. It tasted as bad as the last truffle, and he had to force it down his gullet by the end.

Choose one of the three effects to obtain:

Warrior’s boon: +10 to strength and constitution

Ranger’s boon: +10 to agility and perception

Wizard’s boon: +10 to arcana and perception

With no delay, he chose the warrior’s boon. Unlike last time, he now knew the drawbacks that came alongside the boons as well. If he picked the wizard’s boon, he would grind his teeth out from clenching his jaw so hard at the pain of mana bombarding his skin, and if he picked the ranger’s boon, it would be a similar effect to a lesser extent.

Out of them, the warrior’s boon required the least amount of adapting, and considering he was going back to a steroid-jacked Earth, he figured the additional vitality and power would greatly help.

Silas Wycliffe - 4 unassigned attribute points

Level 24

Level 1 Duellist

Mana:157/157 (recovery rate: 0.55 per minute)

Strength: 25

Agility: 34

Constitution: 23 (+6)

Arcana: 11

Perception: 50

Abilities: Weakness Vision

Now that his attributes looked more balanced, he assigned the remaining points into agility and perception.

Silas Wycliffe

Level 24

Level 1 Duellist

Mana:157/159 (recovery rate: 0.55 per minute)

Strength: 25

Agility: 36

Constitution: 23 (+6)

Arcana: 11

Perception: 52

Abilities: Weakness Vision

He remembered his status at the start of the tutorial and shook his head at how far he had come.

You will now receive a quick briefing before being transported to planet 7042-189-E, locally known as Idroa. As stated before, your planet has been fused with two other planets to create planet 7042-189-E, currently owned by the Ratkin Conglomerate.

As none of your planets have Sovereigns, you have been denied the right to reject this measure. However, for this reason all inhabitants of the three planets have been drafted into the Test of Merit where you can ascend into Sovereignty.

In order to prevent this, the Ratkin Conglomerate have also joined the Test of Merit and will actively attempt to stop all ascensions.

Silas vaguely remembered hearing all this before the tutorial. It all sounded so grand and over his head, and he wondered what he was meant to do with this information.

To become a Sovereign, you must become a D ranked individual within 6 months. Such a status can be obtained through your level, class relevant quests, and notable kills.

What?

At level 50, you are determined to be an E ranked individual, and at level 100, a D ranked individual.

Class relevant activities grant experience to your base level and class level, while quests only grant experience to your class level. Your quests are automatically assigned difficulties, and upon completing a D rated quest, you are determined to be a D ranked individual.

Notable kills are awarded upon solo killing phenomenal organisms. You will maintain the rank of the highest-ranked foe you have solo killed.

Finally, it made a little more sense to him. He was level 24 now, so he had to gain 76 more in six months to become a Sovereign. Alternatively, he could find a mega-monster already at D rank and solo kill it for the same result. He didn’t understand the part about the class stuff, but then again he had only gained his the day prior, so he figured it would clear up in due time.

What’s my current rank?

You are an F-3 Human.

Since he hadn’t completed any quests, let alone any D rated ones, and since he hadn’t fought the mink by himself, his rank must have come from his level. Piecing together his rank and level, he figured F-3 meant he had approximately 30 levels to go to reach E rank.

What about the alabaster mink?

It was an F-2 Mink.

It was only a sub-rank above! Brow raised high, Silas shook his head in disbelief. Aengus must have been near F-2, and he and Mia were F-3s, and yet they had barely won. His shock, however, lessened as he reflected on the fight. Ultimately, the mink had only been extremely tough and fast with not much else special about it.

In fact, most of the danger seemed to have come from their lack of planning and fear. For example, why had Mia picked up the mink instead of tripping it over or chain electrocuting it? Or why had he waited so long to enter the fight, allowing it to leisurely butcher Aengus?

Sighing with exasperation, he pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind: they had won in the end and that was what mattered. Still, both this battle and the one with the mother toad spoke measures about the importance of planning and keeping calm.

Is there anything I should know about Earth? I mean… the new planet.

The Ratkin call it Idroa. As it is a fusion of three planets, the geography is also a fusion of the three, carrying over fauna and flora from each respective planet.

You will be placed in a position geographically close to your last position on Earth. As you have passed the extreme tutorial, you are recommended to immediately set up a hub and carve out a piece of Idroa to protect your species.

Hubs allow greater System integration and are set up using a hub crystal. These crystals can be located by their piercing rays of light. You should be aware, however, that hubs will be subject to weekly horde attacks as per one of the functions of the Test of Merit.

Do you have any questions?

Can you help me find people? Like putting them on my map? He thought of his siblings, Ethan and Chloe, hoping they too had passed their tutorials. Besides them, he now also had Aengus and Mia to find.

You will not have access to the map anymore - it is a strictly tutorial-only function. However, some classes have tracking abilities.

I see, thanks. If he was to be teleported to this dangerous new land, it was best he was equipped well. Although his armour was notched and split in areas, it still held up reasonably. However, he noticed he was missing his spear even though he still had his backup axe and buckler across his waist. Maybe that was because he had left it embedded in the mink’s face. I’ve got no more questions, but if it’s not too much to ask, can I have my spear back?

Good luck, Silas Wycliffe.

[Teleport: proceed.]

****

Opening his eyes, he immediately clenched his hands and frowned at the lack of spear: apparently it had been too much to ask. Before he could think more on it, however, a fierce roar blasted into him, creasing his frown into a grimace.

Scanning his surroundings, he swiftly spotted the culprit: a man-sized lion charging his way, reminding him of the thunderfoot boars. It had crystal skin refracting light into a rainbow of colours around it, and there was a piercing beam shining down from the heavens onto the lion. It clearly had something to do with the hub crystal. Although the System had told him to hunt down it as soon as possible, teleporting him right in front of one seemed overly heavy-handed.

Tensing, he was about to take on the beast when he heard heavy footfalls from the other side. Glancing over, he noticed a group of men and women cresting a hill. There were about twenty of them, and they appeared excited to see the beast as they eagerly pounded across the meadow towards it.

Silas pulled back from the lion, and let several of the group’s faster members whiz past him, grins ready on their faces. He stopped a short distance away and observed how they circled the beast, nipping at its legs when it tried to engage them.

Two things became blindingly obvious as he watched them: firstly, they weren’t nearly as experienced as their gear suggested as their strikes were clumsy and their co-ordination in dire need of improvement; secondly, with the way things were going, the monster would soon maul one of them to death.

Just as the thought crossed his mind…