Michael Volker, age 32, was not what you would call ‘normal’. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan to Susan and Peter Volker, his first fifteen years were relatively normal considering both parents were highly successful in their fields and therefore more than a little wealthy. His mother being one of the best cardio-thoracic surgeons and his father a senior partner at a respected law firm meant that Michael saw very little of them growing up. They did love their children dearly but always felt compelled to continue their work, as if the the courtroom or the operating table were the only place they truly felt alive. As such, the task of raising the young boy was left to a series of baby-sitters and, more often than not, his older sister Sarah. As the younger brother to a sister 5 years older than him he grew up with a fair amount of teasing from his sister but, as they grew older and he came to rely more on her, the annoying older sister he knew transformed into a kind yet determined sister who was perhaps a little too overprotective of her ‘lil bro’.

From an early age Michael was a very curious little boy in every meaning of the word. He looked at the world with a seemingly unquenchable curiosity, constantly either exploring or taking something apart. His schooling was a constant source of frustration for his parents. Michael wasn’t dim, quite the opposite in fact. Whenever a new topic came up he took to learning like a fish to water, eating up the new information like a starving man at a buffet. Unfortunately, as soon as he had learnt what he could about the subject, he got bored and his attention immediately shifted. It got to the point that Michael began to sneak out of school to explore the nearby woods. By the age of twelve his parents chose to homeschool him, hiring a range of tutors who would teach him whatever caught his interest for as long as it caught his interest. At this point in his life it became normal to find him figuring out the mechanical engineering behind the combustible engine one day and learning mandarin the next.

His sister Sarah was not a curious child. Instead, she was driven. Where Michael seemed almost completely absent of ambition, Sarah seemed to have gotten a triple dose. In every aspect of life Sarah, propelled by a seemingly inexhaustible well of energy, strived to be better than the best. Her grades never dipped below an A in any of her subjects, she took more after school extracurriculars than anyone else and yet, despite a workload that would kill the average adult, she always had time for her little brother's endless questions. Sarah had a plan, you see. She would graduate Harvard with the highest honours as a business major and then start and run a business that would swiftly become one of the world's premier fortune 500 companies, thereby becoming one of the most accomplished businesswomen in all of history. By the age of 20 Sarah's life was going exactly as planned.

Unfortunately, all good things must end. Everything changed for the two siblings when, on Michael's fifteenth birthday, both Susan and Peter Volker were killed in a car accident. The sudden and tragic loss of his loving, if often absent, parents crushed Michael’s inquisitive nature and, in effect, broke him. Remanded into the custody of his 20-year-old sister, Michael no longer found joy in the new or interesting. Michael, in the depths of his grief, decided that it was time to grow up and give up his childish ways. After enrolling in a nearby high school he set out to live a normal life. And that is exactly what he did. Graduating high school with decent grades he went on to start a meaningless dead end office job. He didn’t need to, his parents’ life insurance and the money left to him in the will was enough that he would never actually need to work for a living. The job did give him a sense of comfort though. The routine and boredom gave him a feeling of peace that had been missing since his parents' death.

Fortunately, all bad things must end as well. After a few years and some much-needed counselling, the crushing weight of his parents' death started to lift and with it, his curiosity started coming back as well. By the age of 24 Michael quit his job and returned to his previous unending quest for the new and interesting. The shadow of his parents’ death was visible, however, in that most of his new interests revolved around survival. Michael learnt everything from campfire cooking to first aid to archery and everything in between. As the years passed and he got more and more survival skills he began to take trips into the wilderness. While at first his trips could be measured in hours, they grew until they could be measured in days and then months. After some lessons in construction, helpfully provided by his sister who was at the time running a construction company, he even managed to build a cabin deep in the woods. Sarah often liked to joke that he was practically a serial killer, he already had the cabin in the woods after all. He was even something of an expert hunter. Then she would look at him with fake suspicion, as if wondering if he wasn't already one.

By the age of 27 Michael had started to roam. Before he had sticked with exploring the nearby Huron-Manistee National Forests but, after two years and many trips, Michael had set his sights further. He began to take trips to other states, spending anything from a month to half a year in different forests throughout the States. As the years went by he roamed further and further from his home state of Michigan. He had plans to start exploring other, more exotic countries, but had decided to stay at least a month, deep in the woods, in every state. For states like Nevada, with its dry arid deserts, it wasn't exactly easy. He did learn how to make drinkable water from his own urine however. "Not sure if it was worth it, but at least it was an interesting experience" was his one and only remark about that particular trip. By the time he was 32 he was almost finished and looking forward to seeing the end of his quest. That is why, when Mana came flooding back and the world was forever changed, he was not in his home in Grand Rapids or up at his cabin. He was in the Umpqua National Forest, in Oregon, a full 33 hours away from home. 33 hours by car that is. When Mana came back, the first clue anyone had was when the blue boxes appeared.

System Initialising ...

System Initialised

Tutorial Initialising

Tutorial started

Most people barely even saw the system messages before they were transported to ... somewhere else. Some people were asleep, abruptly waking when their bodies went from lying on a bed to, oh so briefly, floating two feet in mid-air. The transition into the tutorial space did not alter the position of anyone relative to the ground. That meant that anyone who was not standing or sitting upright inevitably fell over. This might not have been the punishment that Gaia had thought up, but it did give her no end of humour when she saw it. Whilst this event was quite funny for Gaia, it was very much the opposite for Michael.

To understand the situation that Michael found himself in you first have to remember that, at the time of the transition, Michael was deep within the Umpqua National Forest and at least an hours trek from the nearest available restrooms. This was not a problem for Michael as, after many similar trips, he was well prepared to emulate bears and do it in the woods. In this case, however, there were complications. You see, the previous day Michael had happened across a particular mushroom that he was absolutely confident was a never before seen mutation of the Tuber Gibbosum mushroom, otherwise known as the Oregon Spring White Truffle. He was certain since, apart from the reddish coloring, it had the same size and shape that you would expect from a Tuber Gibbosum.

Of course, just because he was sure, did not mean that he would eat one in order to prove that they were the same. He was neither stupid nor crazy. After three hours he ate a small piece anyways. In many ways, Michael truly embodied the phase, curiosity killed the cat. Despite what he secretly feared the mushroom did in fact taste similar to the Tuber Gibbosum and, after waiting for an hour and having no discernable reactions, Michael went to sleep, satisfied that he was right.

Which is why, at four in the morning, when humanity was introduced to the system and everyone was transferred, Michael was not asleep. He was squatting over a hastily dug hole and, eyes clenched in agony, was praying to any Gods that would listen to end his pain or his life, whichever was quickest. So preoccupied was he with the wrenching in his gut that he didn't see the system messages. He didn't feel the transition, nor the shift as the uneven dirt became a perfectly even floor. he didn't even notice the light going from the darkness of the 4am forest to the bright sourceless light of the tutorial. It would likely not have made a difference in what happened next, though. Some events, once in motion, could not be stopped until they reached their conclusion.

In deference to Michaels last remaining shred of dignity, the first two minutes of his tutorial will not be mentioned. That being said, hardly a day has passed since those events where Michael has not been thankful that spells such as existed. And that healing spells include the effects of food poisoning in what they heal. The fact that the AI that governed the Tutorial and was present during the entire event was created with confidentiality in mind also brings Michael comfort whenever he thinks of those minutes.

"So, you're an AI?" Michael asked.

"Indeed" the AI replied. "I am a true AI who was created by Gaia to oversee the Tutorial and provide information if needed."

The AI that Michael was currently talking to was present in the form of a featureless white sphere, hovering approximately 4 feet above the ground. The fact that he could not see how the sphere was being kept in the air sparked Michaels curiosity, but not nearly as much as it should have. Now that he thought about it, the whirlwind of emotions that he should be feeling in this situation was gone. Well, not gone, but definitely muted. He could feel that they were there, but they felt like they were far off in the distance.

"Did you do something to my emotions? Or am I just in shock?" Michael asked.

"You are not currently experiencing shock, no. Gaia believed that emotions would likely get in the way of the tutorial, a belief that I agree with. Humans often feel fear in the face of the unknown and that fear causes them to lash out or cause disruptions. By muting your emotions you can complete the Tutorial with minimal interruptions. You have my apologies. Such an action would not normally occur but then neither would the sudden and unexpected systemisation of an entire species due to a near catastrophic influx of Mana."

"What?"

"Once again I must apologise. All this would have been explained in the tutorial which I really should have given now but the events of your arrival have distracted me." Despite speaking in a monotone and completely accentless voice that still somehow sounded like an English butler, Michael felt that the AI sounded unmistakably flustered.

"Don't mention it. Seriously, please don't ever talk about that to anyone, ever. Including me. Ever." Whereas the AI might have been flustered, Michael definitely was flustered. Even with the emotional dampener.

"You needn't worry, I was created with confidentiality in mind. Gaia believes in a fair playing field and information about another's tutorial experience might give unfair advantages."

"There it is again. Who is this Gaia? You've mentioned them before. Who or what are they and what do they want?"

"All this will be explained in the introduction. May I get started?"

Michael shrugged and gestured for the AI to continue.

"Good. Now, the first thing you should know is that everything your scientists have deduced about the planet is correct, but only up to a point. Their understanding of the physical processes of how the planet was formed is largely correct but they're missing a vital piece of information. The existence of Planetary Consciousnesses, or PCs for short. These PCs are created in the confluence of Mana and a planet with potential to hold life. The purpose of these beings is to mold the planet from which the were birthed, create a primary race with at least a basic level of intelligence, implement the System and then to watch over the continued existence of the planet and its inhabitants. The consciousness of your planet, is Gaia."

The AI paused to let this settle in.

"So you're saying that Humanity has only just reached a basic intelligence? What the heck would a species with advanced intelligence look like?" Michael was surprised. He'd always assumed there had to be at least one other intelligent species in the universe but to think Humanity could only be considered to have basic intelligence?

"Actually, no. Your species had reached the level of intelligence required thousands of years ago, but it didn't matter. Something had already gone wrong a long, long time before that. 168 million years before, to be precise. For reasons that are beyond Gaia's knowledge, the flow of Mana coming from the Point Of Creation simply stopped. This had never happened before and, quite frankly, shouldn't have been possible."

"Nevertheless, it happened, and the results were nearly fatal for Gaia. You see, Planetary Consciousnesses like Gaia require Mana to survive and, without it, they would die like a Human without oxygen. Gaia, using the last remaining Mana available to it, altered the Planet's natural satellite into a light-Mana converter, providing just enough Mana for Gaia to survive. Unfortunately, it was not enough to allow Gaia to remain awake. Fast forward 168 million years, and Gaia awakens to a veritable tsunami of Mana slamming into the Earth."

"Wait, so Gaia has been asleep for the last 168 million years?" Michael asked.

"Correct."

"And, unless I'm remembering incorrect, Humanity hadn't even been around back then, right?"

"Also correct. If I may skip ahead, I can see where this line of questioning is leading. Humans were indeed a mistake. If Gaia's plan hadn't been interrupted by forces out of it's control, Humans likely would have never existed. The original Primary Race were the beings that your species now call 'Dinosaurs'."

Michaels eyes widened as the weight of those words settled into his mind. Everything in his life, the death of his parents, the love shared between his sister and himself. Everything that Humanity had ever created; the passion, the joy, the great works of art, the terrible tragedies. All the people who lived, loved and lost. All of it had been a mistake. Humanity itself was a mistake.

Silence descended upon the white, featureless room of the tutorial. The AI prepared itself for what would be coming. The AI was not just present for Michael's tutorial, it was present for all of them. Many Humans had already reached this point in the conversation and, by and large, it had not been pretty. Some broke down crying, others started shouting at the AI, a couple shouted "Gnomes Rule!" and far too many simply refused to believe the truth. And that was with the emotional dampeners in place.

After a few seconds, Michael's attention returned to the present. "Oh."

The AI paused, it had not expected this. "Are you okay?"

Michael looked at the the white sphere that represented the AI and said "Yeah. Bit of a surprise, that. I think I'd probably be freaking out quite a bit more without the emotional dampener in place. Good call."

The AI was a bit worried about that but decided to continue with the introduction anyways. At least Michael was easy to deal with.

"Anyways, as you might expect, the sudden and massive increase in Mana levels had some serious effects. Or it would have, if not for Gaia's intervention. After the systemisation of Humanity, Gaia transitioned the entire race into this tutorial space so that it could deal with the Mana issue without having to worry about accidents."

"As a result, the world that you return to, if you complete this tutorial, is massively different from the one you know. For one thing, it is much larger. By using an exceedingly large chunk of the Mana, Gaia was able to increase the planets size to double what it was before. All the continents you knew have been consolidated back into the supercontinent that Humans call Pangea. Another three supercontinents have been created, though I would not suggest visiting them until you have reached at least level 150."

"Most of the creatures on the planet are by now dead or monsterized. Mana tends to mutate or kill any non-Systemised creatures and, barring a few exceptions like the 'Cockroach', this has held true. Not all species will immediately attack, but most have had their aggressive tendencies heightened. There are a few other changes but Gaia has decided to let you discover them for yourselves."

"Do you have any questions before I move on?"

Rather than simply blurt out the first question that came to mind, Michael paused to think. The AI was grateful for Michaels presence of mind, it made him far easier to talk to than a large portion of humanity.

After few moments Michael finally asked "What do you mean by Levels? Is it like video games? And which species were wiped out?"

"Let me answer your last question first. Lots of insect species, most actually. Some types of fish and birds that you've never heard of. Most of the smaller dog and cat species. Except Chihuahuas, those became a rather nightmarish species. I believe they were transferred over to one of the other continents. They weren't all that high level, but they would certainly have killed or at least traumatised many humans. At least a few different genus from most of the species didn't survive. Plants did surprisingly well. There will be quite the selection for any future alchemists and herbalists to discover."

"I could go into more detail than that but I doubt that you would care. Now, as to the questions on the levels. Yes, the System, and any planet with both life and Mana, does operate in a similar fashion to your video games. Or rather, your video games are similar to the System. As well as your books, movies and even some of your tabletop games."

"Well that's weird."

"Indeed. Anyways, whilst the System does not work exactly the same way it is similar enough that I won't go into the details at this moment. Instead, I will save this discussion for the end of your tutorial, if you survive."

"Survive?" The sudden morbid turn took Michael by surprise. Was this where the AI revealed it's dark sinister plans to destroy humanity?

"There is no evil plan, though there will be death. Gaia does not believe in coddling. And no, I can't read your thoughts but I can read your body language. Besides, even if I could you needn't worry, there's very little in your mind that would interest me."

Feeling a bit insulted and yet oddly a tiny bit comforted, Michael gestured for the AI to continue.

"The tutorial you are about to experience consists of three phases. In the first you will have every skill you could possibly have, assessed to determine their skill ranking. In the second you will be given an opportunity to gain new skills. In the third and final phase you take part in a test and then, should you pass, be given the chance to take a further trial for additional rewards. I will give you more information during each phase as and when needed. As soon as you are ready you may proceed through the doorway to your left" at this point the wall to Michaels left shifted and a doorway formed "and start. Before you do, I suggest you change into the clothes on the table behind you." Michael didn't need to turn around to know that there would now be a table with clothes behind him. He did anyways. "They have been enchanted for both and and will be far more useful than your current clothes. When you are ready, I will meet you in the first phase."

With this, the sphere representing the AI dinged out of the room, actually making a 'ding' sound as it left. It sounded exactly the same as an elevator. Before Michael could even react, The AI sphere dinged back in.

"I am so terribly sorry, I have been a complete idiot. Somehow I have completely forgotten to tell you about your Status menu! Let's do that now."