Earth - Somewhere near the west coast of New Pangea

The early afternoon sun shone down on a wild and untamable forest. This was not one of the quite, peaceful forests that humanity used to know. With the arrival of Mana, many of the forests denizens had been, altered. Before, their activities were rarely noticed. Even their clashes, such as they were, concluded with not a whisper felt by the other creatures. This was most certainly no longer the case. Clashes were frequent, and frequently load. A fight between Monsters was a difficult thing to ignore, and the combatants often ended up pulling others into the fray. Their destructive attacks often wreaked havoc on their leafy surroundings, but the leafy surroundings fought back. Plants had always had defenses against animals and the introduction of Mana made those defenses a tad more, active.

All in all, the forest was a dangerous and rowdy place to be, or at least, most of it was. There were a few acres, here and there, where peace and stillness reigned. It was in one of these pockets of peace that, with an unusually loud *Ding*, Michael appeared. A common side effect of long range teleportation is a near debilitating sense of disorientation, often coupled with nausea. As such Michael was effectively incapacitated for the first few seconds of his arrival on Earth. You can understand, therefore, why he did not notice the Ent behind him.

On an interesting side note, Ents are actually considered Magical creatures and are large gentle creatures who enjoy peace and solitude, deep within the forests. If it was up to them, they would happily enjoy spending their long lives doing nothing but standing in a forest and simply being. They are prone to bursts of rage, however, when their peace is rudely interrupted.

As such, no one with any knowledge of Ents would be at all surprised to learn that the Ent, having just been disturbed by Michaels arrival, pulled its leg back and swiftly punted him, causing him to fly across the clearing, bounce off a tree with a worrying crack, and splash into a raging river that was currently the residence of a river elemental. A river elemental that did not take kindly to the presence of a dirty little human in it's otherwise pristine and beautiful waters. So, it did what any reasonable, and not at all uptight NoMatterWhatThatStupidBreezeElementalSaid, elemental would and washed him swiftly away, intent on making him leave as soon as possible.

Michael woke up feeling like he'd been hit by a tree, a lucky guess, and groaned.

"Ahh, you're awake." A feminine voice pierced the fog of pain that Michael's mind had become.

Michael opened his eyes for a split second before slamming them back shut. He groaned again, feeling that the first groan hadn't been enough to properly express the state of his body. The light was too bright for his eyes. He was currently sitting down, propped up against a tree

"Yeah, you're gonna want to take it slow laddie." A different voice, deeper and distinctly male. "Ye were on death's door, pounding t' get in, when we found ye. Yer lucky t' be alive"

Michael was confused, why was this guy speaking like a dwarf? He slowly opened one eye a fraction, looking in the direction of the voice. After a second or two he closed his eye, satisfied with what he had seen. Of course the guy was going to sound like a dwarf, he was one. It would be weirder if he didn't sound like a dwarf.

...

...

Wait, what? Michael opened his eyes fully, having recovered enough to handle the light. Unfortunately, the dwarf was still a dwarf. To be specific, this was not someone who suffered from dwarfism. No, this was an honest to goodness dwarf. Thick barreled chest? Check. Arms as muscled as a python? Check. Four foot tall? Check. Gleaming armor? Check. Big bushy beard? Well, not really, but it would get there.

"Ar- ehm, Are you a dwarf?" Michaels throat was a bit dry so it wasn't easy to speak, but he powered through. Some things had to be said, or in this case, asked.

The dwarf puffed up with pride, "Aye, that I be!"

"Huh, Tolkien was right. Middle Earth does exist."

The dwarf shot him a glare. "Oh, Ha Ha, everyone's a comedian. Yer not in a bloody book, ya idjit. Ah jist took the Dwarf evo. Figured it would help ma smithin'."

Michael just stared at him, utterly confused and barely able to make out what the weirdo was saying. He was saved from further confusion by the feminine voice from earlier, "Sam, will you stop with that stupid bloody accent, you're scaring the poor guy."

Michael turned his head to look at the other voice. It belonged to another character out of a fantasy book, in this case quite possibly the literal visual interpretation of the phrase 'fair maiden'. Standing at just over 5 foot tall and wearing some sort of pale blue robes, her light blonde hair framed the sort of face that could launch a thousand ships. With the light streaming down behind her, she looked like an angel sent from above. Then she opened her mouth and shattered the image.

"What you looking at, ampule. Agh! Bloody mufflerflaking shifty armhole profanity filter!!" She then launched into a tirade of almost-profanities that made even the dwarf blush for a moment. A few seconds of angry near-swearing later, the woman seemed to suddenly deflate and, without another word, turned around and entered a large tent that had been set up nearby.

The dwarf, apparently named Sam, turned to Michael and apologised. "Sorry about Anne, she's had a tough day." All traces of the dwarvish accent had fled, leaving behind a faint twang that reminded Michael of some friends he had made down in Georgia. "Hell, we all have. We've been ambushed twice today and poor Andrew, our fifth, got killed a couple hours ago." The dwarf looked down, shoulders slumping as he remembered his friend. "Anne's our healer; she blames herself for his death. It's not her fault, not really, but that won't stop her from hating herself. Truth is, if I had been paying more attention, I coulda saved the lad."

"Don't you feathering dare, you iron brained idiot. It is not your fault and it sure as hell isn't Anne's." The new voice snapped across the small clearing as a woman stepped into view from the out of the trees. The new woman was a fierce looking one, with sharp features and straight brown hair braided into a short ponytail. Dressed in leathers and carrying a staff, the woman held an air of power that warned of imminent destruction to those who crossed her. A quick Inspect, which thankfully worked first time, showed her name was Olivia Miller and that she was Tier 3 level 6. Unsurprisingly, it didn't show any more than that. Inspect's skill description had mentioned that it would not work as well on higher level targets.

Olivia stared at the dwarf for a few seconds before her gaze softened. "Why don't you go and see if Anne's okay while I have a chat with our guest, okay?". The dwarf nodded and strode to the tent wordlessly.

Olivia walked over and sat down cross legged in front of Michael, and stared at him. The silence stretched for a few seconds and, just as Michael was starting to get uncomfortable, she spoke. "Who, are you?".

Michael paused for a sec, unsure of what to say, before the woman gave a small smile, "Sorry, always wanted to say that. Seriously though, what on earth is a Tier 1 level 1 doing this deep in the forest? For that matter, how the hell are you still that low a level?"

Michael hesitated, unsure whether to mention that he had only just gotten out of the Tutorial. The rewards he had gained were likely ten times the amount needed to tempt someone into killing and robbing him, and the woman before him could easily do it. Tier 3 level 6 meant a class, class skills, and a whole boatload of attribute points. Michael liked to think he was tough, but the feeling of danger Olivia gave him made him doubt his chances of even escaping.

So Michael did the obvious thing, and lied his butt off. "I'm not quite sure, last thing I remember is leaving the Tutorial, and then waking up here, next to a dwarf. How'd a dwarf get here? Alien? Or some sort of magical creature?". Michael felt a little proud of the lie, since it wasn't technically a lie. He might not have much in the way of social skills, but even he knew the best lies used the truth to mislead. The thing about Sam was to throw her off the track, but also because he really wanted to know. If there were dwarves, what else was there? What had he missed?

Olivia stared him in the eyes, looking for the joke. "Seriously?"

"Um, yeah?"

"Oh, okay"

"Really?"

"Of course not! You really expect me to believe you lost nearly a years worth of memories? Anne Scanned you when we found you, no brain damage. And besides, that doesn't explain the lack of levels."

"Alzheimer's?"

Olivia just gave him a look. One that said, in no uncertain terms, that he was either going to be serious, or in pain.

"I'm serious! I remember leaving the Tutorial, feeling like I'd been tossed around by a hurricane, and then I'm pretty sure I was kicked by a giant or something and then I hit a tree, I think, and blacked out. Next I know I'm waking up next to a dwarf with a tiny beard."

"If that was true then it would mean that you were in the Tutorial for over a year, and that's not possible. So either tell the truth, or I'm going to kill you right her, right now." As she was talking, she held up her hand and formed what looked like a fireball above her hand.

"I am telling you the truth! I've been in the Survival Trial for the last year!"

Olivia stared at him, suspicion in her eyes, as the fireball slowly rotated in mid-air. "Prove it."

"I, uh, how?" The question seemed to stump Olivia as it had stumped Michael. She looked pensive for a moment, before asking "Did you get any Achievements from it?"

"I haven't actually looked at my notifications since I left, what with the whole being kicked by a giant and everything. May I?"

Olivia motioned for him to go ahead, fortunately with the hand not currently holding a literal ball of fire.

Congratulations!

You have completed the Tutorial!

Rewards:

Full access to the System unlocked.

Levelling unlocked.

Congratulations!

You have successfully survived a full year and cleared the Survival Trial Dungeon.

Clear Rate : 99.45%

Rewards:

Nothing! - Seriously, you've already gotten plenty. No need to be greedy, ya ingrate.

Michael was a little miffed. Ingrate? There was no need for that! You should feel ashamed, System.

-1 System Credit.

Don't push it.

...

...

Wha? Michael was speechless.

The look on Michael's face alerted Olivia that something was wrong. "What now? Can't think of a good lie?"

"No, well yes actually, but I did get an achievement. Not sure it helps since you can't see it."

Olivia looked at him with genuine confusion. "You know you can share your screens, right?" She suddenly sounded a lot less sure than she did earlier. It seemed he was finally getting through to her.

"How? Wait, I think I know" Michael focused on sharing his achievement with Olivia. Intent seemed to be a large part of how the System worked, intent and conceptualization. It made sense why only sapient species could be introduced to the System. It seemed to have worked as Olivia suddenly started reading something that appeared in front of her, eyes widening a second later. The fireball suddenly fizzled out as Olivia's hand dropped to her lap. after reading the notification twice, she turned to Michael with a look as serious as the plague.

"Whatever you do, do not show any other person this screen. Don't even say that you completed the Survival Trial, most won't believe you but the ones that do will cut you down before you blink. This world is not the one you remember, law and order are no longer based on ethics or morals, they're based on power. The strong make the rules, the weak follow. I'd like to think that Roseburg is a good place to live in but even the most idealistic of idiots would go around shouting that they're loaded with loot. At least, not the ones that are still alive. So whatever you do, Don't. Tell. A. Soul." She took a deep breath. "Okay, we'll have to come up with a story but nothing will stick unless we get you some levels.. Fortunately for you, we were already out here to level someone up. Daniels dead now so we were about to head back, but we can stay out here to level you up since we're already prepped for it."

"So, if anyone asks and hopefully no one will, you left the Tutorial a year ago without having taken a trial. You have any family nearby that we should worry about?"

"No, I actually come from Michigan, I was just here for a trip before the apocalypse hit. Can I as-"

"Good, that means no one will recognize you. So if anyone asks you can say you're from Crescent on the other side of the forest and you and a few friends decided to come looking for me, your cousin, when you got attacked and the rest of your friends got killed and you nearly died. My team found you and saved you but the experience was so terrible you don't want to talk about it. Should keep most from asking any more, everyone's got stuff they can't talk about these days, no one'll blink an eye. Got it?"

"Yeah but why ar-"

"We might have to stay out here a bit longer, hit up two or three dungeons to get you your levels. Any loot you get, we'll be taking half. Call it payment for helping you not die and if you think it's a lot most people would ask for everything. Actually, most would kill you and loot your corpse. Out here with no witnesses? Yeah, you wouldn't have lasted past the first conversation. Still, since you survived, no, beat the Trial you must have some pretty good skills on you so you'll level up in no time. which is good as most people are reaching the mid twenties by now and you'll need to be at least past 25 before going back to town or no one'll believe that you made it through the forest, dead team or no dead team. So yeah, half the loot sounds pretty fair, right?"

"More than fair bu-"

"No buts, fairs fair. Now, wh-"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP FOR A SECOND!" Michael shouted over the volcano of words coming out of Olivia.

Olivia clammed up, stunned at the sudden outburst. Sam poked his head out the tent for a second but, seeing nothing wrong, popped back inside.

In a much softer voice, Michael continued. "Thank you. For letting me speak and for the rescue. But I have to ask, why are you helping me? If people find out, you'll be in danger as well. So why?"

The tension in Olivia's body loosened, and she gave Michael a small smile. "If I didn't help you, it would be the same as killing you. We've lost too many people and I don't want anyone else to die. Not today, at least. Daniel, the guy I mentioned, He died just a couple hours ago to an ambush monster. He shouldn't have been out here, he was inexperienced and scared, but he wanted to be strong. He'd lost both his parents a few days after the Tutorial, and he didn't want to lose anyone else. He was only sixteen, barely had a class, but was already braver than most of the armpoles back in town." She paused to take a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh. "You beat the Trial, you'll probably end up one of the strongest people in the end. I guess I just don't want to see someone else die needlessly when they could become something more."

Silence reigned for a few seconds, as the weight of those words settled.

"Thanks. Not a lot of people would stick their neck out like this, not even when the world wasn't messed up."

Olivia snorted a laugh at that, "What? Before humans came around you mean? Cause I'm pretty sure we mess up the world just by existing." With a wry smile she stood up and offered Michael a hand up. "Come on, we have a lot of work to do."