Yes, you read the chapter title correctly. And that means that after this chapter, you won’t have to ever hear about the tutorial or ants again!

Okay, that’s a lie, but I am serious that you won’t be hearing from the tutorial again for a long time.

That all being said, let’s get back to me getting my butt kicked by tutorial enemies, shall we?

----

15 HP against hundreds of ants at once? Yeah, I don’t even need to bother telling you how that went, do I? Well, I guess I can spare a few words. It was anticlimactic.

Dang, I wish I could claim that pun was intentional.

Anyway, I slid down the hill, and I found out that one of the new species of ants (that have a green body, but black head and thorax) spit acid. At long ranges. Yeah.

One quick death and subsequent respawn later, I found myself back in the tunnel at the top of the hill. I looked around. “New respawn location, check.” I moved my now sluggish-feeling body around a bit. “Back to level one, check.” I snuck a peek out of the tunnel to look at the ants. Plan to take out all these ants? Not check. I should probably fix that.

Okay, what do I know? I know the normal ones deal 1 damage and have 10 HP. I know that the fire ones also deal 1 damage since I am immune to fire and that they have 25 HP. I know that the green ones spit acid, so those should probably be my first target. The other new type of ant caught my eye. It was white with a red cross pattern on it. Nevermind that has to be a healer. Healers first, or I will be fighting an uphill battle the entire time.

I pulled my head back in and sat down further back in the tunnel. “Hmm. Even if I killed every ant with just one point of stamina, I don’t think I would make it. So, what’s the play? Just whittle them down one at a time?” I thought back to the fight where Gertrude and I had fought hundreds of ants in the obelisk room. Well, it would work, at least.

The only other option is to try to find a place to hide after picking off a couple ants at a time. I got back up to covertly scan the room again and look for hiding places. I didn’t see anything useful. Lots of lava channels. Some rough bridges over them. Some… Rocks. It felt like I was forgetting something, but I shrugged it off.

“Okay, the goal is to take out 1 healer a life. That’s it. I got this.” I psyched myself up and then half charged, half slid down the hill. The ranged ants noticed me and opened fire. I dodged 2 globs of acid but took a third directly to my face.

I growled in frustration and pain but remembered. Right, damage check! I dodged another two projectiles as the melee combatants closed in. I took a quick look at my status and was stunned for a moment. Which caused me to be hit by 2 more balls of acid. “5 HP per hit!? Am I even going to be able to get a single kill down here!?” I managed to finally get onto level ground and was soon surrounded.

My goal was to just get a single kill. I went to town on the healer. I was getting hit with acid, bit from multiple angles, and my legs were also grappled. I soldiered on and kept punching the ant in front of me. Fortunately, the healers only had 5 HP. Unfortunately, with all the ranged attacks I was taking, I barely managed to get the kill before I was downed and respawned back in the tunnel.

However, my objective was accomplished, and I now had a gameplan, even if it would take me ages. I stuck with it through several more deaths and respawns.

The results were mixed. Sometimes I would get grappled, surrounded, and then acid balled to death. Sometimes I managed to kill two or three healers before being taken out. Either way, I was making slow but steady progress.

Or so I thought. After about a dozen respawns, I took a look at the horde of ants before descending. I assumed that I would have taken a decent chunk out of the number of healers. I did a quick headcount. Still.. 25 healers? I would’ve sworn that I had killed at least a dozen of them. Were there really that many? The answer came to me. “No. Please no. Okay, Titus, don’t panic, confirm it before you assume the worst.” I did another headcount and made sure I included every healer. “24.. And 25. Exactly 25 healers. Okay, now confirm it. Maybe it was a fluke.”

I charged down the hill and managed a kill on the closest healer before I was killed. After I respawned, I did another headcount. “24... And 25. Okay. Maybe I miscounted.” I continued in my denial. I ran down and killed yet another healer and then died once again. The count came out to 25 exactly once again.

“IT ISN’T FAIR!” I shouted as I slammed my fist into the wall. “Why do they get to respawn too!? And if I can’t even take out the ads[1], how am I supposed to beat a boss!?” I sat down and stewed for a bit as I tried to think of something that I could use as an advantage. I wasn’t coming up with anything.

I got back up to my feet and punched the poor defenseless wall again. “There’s nothing to work with here! Just an open floor that gives them a clear advantage and a bunch of lava I have to avoid.” The words were barely out of my mouth when they gave me an idea. Or do I? Well, better test it now. It’s either the answer, or I will die the most stupid death anyone has in this world.

I sprinted down the hill and past any of the waiting enemies and went straight for my target. The biggest lava river that I could see in the room. My path was soon blocked entirely by ants. “You’re not gonna stop me this time!” I yelled and jumped at the nearest ant. I didn’t get enough height to clear it, so I jumped off its head and over onto another. I kept going in a strange version of ant parkour until I was at the river’s edge.

“Please be video game lava. Please be video game lava.” I dove off the final ant and into the river. “Let it be video game lava!” I hit the surface. And splashed into it like water.

I could feel the heat around me, and I burst out laughing. I was swimming around inside lava, and I was just fine. I took some practice strokes around. No need to breathe and no damage from heat meant I had found my resting place. My grin got even bigger. I may have also just found a great weapon!

I looked towards the surface where several of the ants were waiting for me to emerge. I swam over to the edge and then splashed as much lava in their direction as I could. I could hear their distressed screeches even from under the lava.

I managed to get to level 2 just from that before they were wise enough to back off from the edge of the lava. I emerged from the river dripping with lava. I looked at my enemies with a wide grin, and several of them recoiled away from me. “Oh, you are going down now.” I had a path forward, and I was going to clear this boss fight no matter how long it took.

-----

While I was involved in my boss battle, Jake and the rest of the party were getting used to protecting villagers and party combat. Jake was looking back over their last fight and examining their tactics.

It’s nice to see that, in some cases, RPG tactics still apply. The first rule is always to protect the healers and the rest of the backline.

----

After a few deaths and retries, I had managed to take out all of the healer ants in a single life. Next, onto the ranged ones. It’s nice to know that “take out the backline first” is still the first rule of fighting in this world.

----

The next wave of dark wolves came for the villagers. “Get into formation!” Jake shouted. As the party formed their front and backline, Jake couldn’t help but nod. I guess the second rule would be to always have a plan and stay in formation? Jake’s thoughts were interrupted by two wolves that lunged at him and were put down by a [Double Shot] from Emilia. He got into a defensive stance and prepared for the next attack.

----

I realized that I somehow had killed all of the healer and ranged ants. I didn’t have a plan for what to do after that. “Come at me!” I made the mistake of staying in one spot for too long and was soon surrounded by grappling pincers. I couldn’t evade them all and soon found myself respawning. I guess the second rule is always keep moving and never let yourself get surrounded, eh? I slid back down the hill for yet another attempt.

----

A wolf was trying to make a break around Jake and head for the backline. Jake was about to move to intercept it when he realized it would leave him wide open to an attack from another wolf. He paused for only a split second. Com’on Jake, you’re in a party. You can trust people to do their jobs. He landed a heavy blow on the running wolf but took a savage bite to the back for his trouble. He threw the wolf off, and soon enough, a soft glowing light enveloped him. “Thanks for the [Heal] Andrew!” Jake got a rough grunt in return and was back to fighting. I guess that makes the third rule. Frontliners can afford to take some damage here and there. You have to trust the healer to do his job.

----

I had died yet again. “Urgh. I keep making it to just the normals and fires left, but they keep whittling me down! I guess that makes the third rule avoid damage at all costs then.” I sighed and mentally prepared myself for a moment. Then, I slid back down the hill and prepared to be even more patient than I was in previous times. I had to try to get through with no damage at all, if possible.

----

Jake paused as he heard a howl, and an alpha wolf appeared. “I got it!” He sprinted in its direction and prepared to activate [Sunder]. The skill failed. What? Jake looked over at his stamina bar and saw that he was close to empty. “Out of stamina! I can’t activate the skill!” Jake looked at the rest of the party and saw low mana on Andrew, Sam, and Tim, and low health on Garrett. He grit his teeth. Fourth rule. Always keep track of party resources.

----

Like an idiot, I let myself run out of stamina, and I died yet again. “Come on, moron. You only got two resources to keep track of since you have no mana.” I sighed. “I probably should’ve made keep track of stamina and HP rule one, but I guess four works.”

I slid back down the hill and made sure to check my stamina religiously in the next fight.

----

“We are low on resources, but we can do this!” Jake shouted to the party. “Form up! Lindsey, take aggro! You’re the healthiest frontliner we got! Andrew, hold the [Heals] unless someone is about to get dropped! We need you to conserve mana!”

The party got into action. Lindsey got the wolf’s attention and blocked its attacks flawlessly. The backline continued peppering it with attacks, but Lindsey couldn’t keep it up. She missed a step, and her block faltered. Jake moved in to try to get aggro when Megan appeared behind the wolf and [Backstabbed] it.

Megan turned and sprinted right past Jake with the enraged wolf behind her. “I got you a present!” Megan shouted without slowing down.

Jake just chuckled. “Nice work Megan.” The fight was a bit dicey, but they swapped aggro between Jake, Garrett, and Lindsey and managed to pull through.

At the end, Jake sat down heavily. “Phew. Great job, everybody!” I feel like there is a rule five here somewhere.. Use your numbers against your opponent? Spread out damage among the frontliners? Eh. It can be both.

----

I was getting consistently stuck when I got to just the fire and normal ants left. I had just made it back to that stage, and I was resting in the lava river. What can I do differently? Spreading out damage doesn’t help me, but at the same time, if I stay in one spot, we end up stacked together like sardines. I had an inkling of a thought. But maybe that can be to my advantage.

I popped up from the lava river and ran to the nearest group of ants.

It was safe to say that I had punched a lot of ants by this point. I had learned the minimum amount of force I needed to use to deal damage, and I had pretty much stuck with that for my fights to more efficiently use my SP. I ignored all of that for my next attack.

I set my feet, used my core, swung my left arm in the opposite direction, and gave the fire ant in front of me the biggest uppercut of my life.

The ant fell backward into its brethren and caused chaos. Three ants had to free at least one leg from under it, that ant wasn’t attacking me any time soon, and an added bonus was that it took two other ants lifting it to get it back on its feet.

In the meantime, nothing was stopping me from uppercutting more ants, so I did.

The added chaos was the point I was missing, and I knew it was just a matter of time now. Use their numbers against them. I grinned. Yep. Rule number 5.

----

And so both the party and I continued our training. While I learned how to keep track of enemies and dodge acid attacks from multiple angles, the party learned how to keep enemies at bay with a frontline and ranged fire. While I learned how to remain mobile and jump from enemy to enemy, the party learned flexible formations that they could take to handle any threat. While I learned how leveling affected me as I constantly went back and forth between levels 1 and 3, the party grew continually stronger and hit level 7, with Jake hitting level 8. While I learned how to cause my enemies to get in each other’s way, the party learned how everyone else behaved in combat and how to use Jake’s [Enhanced Party] perk to the point where they were like a well-oiled machine.

It continued on like that for a while. Then with little fanfare, something changed. I killed the last fire ant in the room.

I had been fighting for so long that it took my brain a bit to comprehend the fact that there were no more enemies left.

I stared around in a bit of a daze before I finally realized what that meant. I plopped down onto the ground and laughed. “10 HP to spare!” Then I stared at the boss HP bar that was still visible. “And here’s where I find out that was wave 1, right?”

I heard a loud screeching noise that made me cover my ears, and then elite ants started pouring out of the wall of the room and coming towards me. I wasn’t that concerned. I got up, stretched a bit, and then sauntered over to the nearest lava river. The elites followed me, but they could tell that something wasn’t right. I was soon surrounded by a half-circle of elites about 10 feet away from me, and a lava river behind me.

One of the ants took a cautious step forward towards me. When I didn’t respond, it turned it into a charge. Quick as a flash, I reached down to the river and splashed some lava towards my surprised foe. It started screeching as the lava bubbled on its skin, and then it quickly changed to white.

I hadn’t just stood still, though. Right after my lava slinging, I had followed it up with a dash closer to the ant. 2 quick punches made easy work of my helpless foe.

“Who’s next!?” I roared my challenge.

----

Ants, in general, are not that smart. In the real world, their main tactic for taking down enemies is to just throw bodies at it until it dies. However, these were monster ants. Elite monster ants. So, they managed to approach something near thought.

When Warrior #232 saw Warrior #128 charge in by himself even though the scary not-ant was obviously planning something, he was worried. His concern was validated when the not-ant threw the fire liquid and was fine even without a fire liquid carapace. Then just like that, Warrior #128 was dead. The not-ant screeched something out, and that was enough to break Warrior #232’s spirit. He called for a retreat.

The Warriors split up and tried to go back through the holes they had come through, but found they could not leave. The not-ant started several back to back screeches and tilted its head back. Then it scooped up the fire liquid and began chasing the Warriors around. Warrior #232 could do nothing but hide and hope the not-ant, no, the monster couldn’t find him. The monster continued its short screeching and only stopped on occasion to bathe in the fire liquid.

Soon it was his turn. The monster approached him with lava in his hands. His mandible coverings parted and showed his hidden mandibles. The monster made some more screeches. This time softer and lower like it was trying to comfort him. Warrior #232 was too scared to move. It came closer.

Then the fire liquid was all over him. Warrior #232 screeched but refused to use the fire liquid carapace. He knew if he did, it was all over just like it was for his brothers. He grit his mandibles. There was only one thing left to try. He charged the 2-legged monstrosity. The fire liquid was still burning him all over, but he knew this was his only chance.

The 2-legged monster fell over, and Warrior #232 was happy for a moment for his superior number of legs. He dove to bite the monster, but it managed to turn itself over itself and get away. Soon it was balanced back on its 2 legs and running away. No, Warrior #232 realized. It was trying to get more fire liquid because the first amount hadn’t killed him.

Warrior #232 dashed after the monster. It couldn’t let it get more!

2 legs was fast, but Warrior #232 was faster. He was going to catch up! He reached out to bite the enemy, but the monster used its... Upper legs? Mobile pincers? to bat the attack away. Warrior #232 recovered quickly, but the fire liquid was only a few ant-lengths away. They both ran to it. And Warrior #232 managed to grab the monster!

Yes! He could drag the monster away from its only hope! Warrior #232 was victorious!

Then disaster struck. The monster fell over and grasped with its upper legs. It managed to just barely reach into the fire liquid. And it flung the fire liquid all over him.

Warrior #232 screeched in agony. His last view was of the colony-murderer with its hidden mandibles on full display.

----

I had a wide grin on my face. I reached up and stretched my arms. Man, that was really sketchy there at the end, but that was a really good stress reliever. The maniacal laughter was probably a bit much, but hey, it’s not like there was anyone around to hear it. I let out a contented sigh. It was nice to be the powerful one for once instead of just getting my butt handed to me all the time.

I checked my status and noted I was at 20 HP. The level up from 3 to 4 for killing the elites and the 10 extra HP was nice. It’s a good thing they didn’t turn and fight me. A single attack from one of them would have killed me. And probably made me start all the way back from the first wave. I paused and looked around. Speaking of waves… Where is the next one?

My unspoken question was answered with a horrifying screech that caused me to drop to my knees and hold my ears in pain. When I finally stopped, I checked my status and saw that I was down to 15 HP. 5HP with just a sonic attack!?

I looked up and saw my new foe. In many ways, it was a normal giant ant. It was black. Looked like an ant. It was also was bigger than a van and wreathed in flames.

I prepared myself mentally. I courageously stood my ground. I plotted how I would pull an underdog victory here against great odds... Who am I kidding? As soon as I saw that thing, I turned tail and ran.

Please, at least be slow. I peeked behind me while I was running and saw that it was gaining on me rapidly. I was terrified and couldn’t help but start screaming. The boss was just a few feet behind me when I managed to dive into the lava river.

In my panic, I had left my mouth open and nearly swallowed a mouthful of lava. I managed to spit it out and calm down. Okay, Titus. Huge boss monster wreathed in flames. How do I beat it? Probably just punch it to death, right? No special strats needed here, right?

My thoughts were interrupted by a huge splash. The boss had followed me into the river.

I involuntarily let out a scream that turned more into a gurgle due to a lack of air to scream into. I then turned and started swimming away from it as fast as I could. The giant ant was content to just walk along the bottom of the river and chase after me.

I kept going with the current and soon noticed that we were headed downward and into a tunnel. The current was also picking up. This is bad! I’m going to be trapped somewhere! I looked behind me and saw the boss gaining on me. No time though! Just keep swimming!

Just like a certain royal blue tang, I kept swimming. Fortunately, the current kept picking up, and soon I was actually gaining distance from the boss. Then I saw something peculiar. Is that a waterfall? Or lavafall? I looked behind me again and saw the boss still coming. It’s still better than here!

I got closer. 50 feet away. 40 feet away. I was almost able to just relax and let the current carry me over. 30 feet away. 20 feet away. I finally realized something was off. Shouldn’t lavafalls make noise? I was a mere 5 feet from the drop when I was finally able to see a bit down the falls.

And I was looking into the void.

Not safe, not safe! I frantically tried to swim back against the current, but that also gave the boss a chance to catch up to me. It collided with me, and I was instantly dropped below 0 HP. I could no longer move or do anything to stop us as we both fell over the lava fall.

We tumbled down into the void. There was nothing to do, so I was surprisingly calm as we continued falling. Looks like we made it out of the game map.

As I watched the floating cavern fade into the distance, the boss ant started making weird noises. Its flames had gone out, and it was scratching its throat with its legs.

I, meanwhile, felt as fine as an essentially dead man could be. Then I saw the boss’ HP bar ticking down. “Ah. Suffocation damage. A miserable way to go, Mrs. Boss. A fairly common way for game devs to kill entities that are off the map, though.”

Wait. If falling into the void causes suffocation damage, and I don’t take any.. Am I going to fall forever? No, wait. My HP is ticking down, too, because I’m below 0 HP.

There was nothing to do but watch as both the boss and I slowly died. As I idly wondered who would die first, I vaguely thought I saw something off in the distance. There was an area in the void that just looked… Wrong. The ant and I were headed towards it, but I didn’t have to worry or wonder too long because the results of our HP race came in.

I’ve never been happier to come in second place.

The ant’s HP bar hit 0, and it disappeared. Then I did too.

My body turned to light particles, and I was suddenly accessing the obelisk screen.

I also had quite a few notifications to look at.

System : Congratulations on hitting level 5 and completing the tutorial! You will be able to spend your points at the obelisk before being sent out to a randomized town.

System: New Achievement. Dungeon Delver. Class Perk Points Gained 5.

System: New Achievement. First Dungeon Delver. Class Perk Points Gained 5.

System: New Achievement. Underdog. Class Perk Points Gained 5.

System: New Achievement. First Underdog. Class Perk Points Gained 5.

System: New Achievement. Boss Solo. Class Perk Points Gained 5.

System: New Achievement. First Boss Solo. Class Perk Points Gained 5.

System: New Achievement. Slayer of Giant Ants. Class Perk Points Gained 5.

System: New Achievement. First Slayer. Class Perk Points Gained 5.

System : New Achievement. First Demon Lord. Class Perk Points Gained 5

System : New Achievement. Last!. Class Perk Points Gained 10

Wow. A ton of achievements for being the first to kill a boss it looks like. First to complete a dungeon. First to kill a boss that was a lot higher level? First to kill a boss by myself. Why am I just now getting Slayer of Giant Ants? Oh. Probably had to kill one of each or some silly requirement.

I looked at the first line and the last two achievements and compared them to the rest. My eyes would have narrowed if I currently had any. Wait. If I don’t have eyes, how am I reading this? I shook off the off-topic thought. Well, I guess I take a gamble.

Hey, pretend System! I practically shouted my thoughts. I know you are out there!

System : Ah, you caught me. What gave me away?

The format of the last two achievements is different. And I had initially thought that the extra space in your name was just a display glitch, but you couldn’t reuse the name System, could you? That and every message with that extra space seemed a bit... Different compared to the others.

System : *Clap, clap, clap* Congrats, young Demon Lord. You caught me. Now, what do you want?

I thought for a second. What should I ask him? I thought back over the messages I had gotten. Did you bring us all here?

System : Not exactly. Though I did help with the process

I was excited for a second. Then can you take me back home?

System : Sorry, but no

Why not! I mentally shouted.

System : I am not allowed to answer that question

I panicked a bit at that. There is at least a way home, right?

System : Yes

.. Can you tell me what it is?

System : No

Can you at least give me a hint? Or put me in the right direction?

System : I’ve already helped as much as I can with that

I sighed. What about changing my class, at least? I don’t want to be the bad guy.

System : Can’t do that either

I stewed for a few moments and then decided to move on. What about the tutorial? The obelisk? Everything in this area was sending messages as you.

System : You were all initially going to just be dumped into the world. I thought this was a bit more.. Civilized. Most games these days do give you a bit to get the hang of things instead of just throwing you into the deep end

That gave me pause. That’s actually pretty considerate of you.

System : Thanks

You also are the biggest A-Hole I know for putting me through all this. And if I ever meet you, I am going to punch you in the face.

System : Good luck with that. Also, the purpose of a tutorial is to teach people what they need and prepare them for the world they are going into. You had more to prepare for than others. You may hate me right now, but I actually did you a favor. And your perk point balance certainly agrees with that

I almost argued, but I had to agree with him. 55 perk points does sound like a lot. I paused and tried to think of what to ask next. I thought of the tumble down into the dark. Why is the tutorial cave just chilling in the middle of a void? And what was that strange-looking area?

System : Not everything in this world is finished, you know. And that was a corrupted area. You are lucky that you didn’t enter it because even a game admin couldn’t save you from that

Holy ship. You’re saying I would have died for real if I had fallen a bit farther?

System : No, of course not. Death is a lot more forgiving and a lot less painful

It took me several moments to digest the shock of that before I could continue. I eventually latched on to the other part of his statement. You mentioned game admins. Are you one of those then?

System : I guess temporary game admin would be fairly close

Temp?

System : Already said too much on that

Oh. I thought of another question. Why did you change my race and class display? I mean, you did it right as I was about to tell the [Hero] about my class. So I assume there has to be a reason.

System : As the Hero, if anyone is going to stop you, it is going to be Jake. It’s best if he doesn’t know about your class for now

But.. I don’t want to take over the world or anything. Surely, he won’t kill me just because of my class. Right?

System : …

No… He wouldn’t.

System : I didn’t say anything

My mind was now scrambling. How well do I actually know the [Hero]? He seems like a nice, chill guy, but what if he thought the fate of the world depended on me dying?

System : Sorry to interrupt your Hero vs. Demon Lord crisis, but I have a limited time I can talk to you. Any last questions?

Ah. Okay. I tried to switch gears and ask any remaining questions I could think of. I only came up with one. Why are you talking with me directly anyway? I’m assuming you haven’t just chatted up everyone else that got sent here.

System : I can’t say too much, but let’s just say I am personally invested in your progress, and I wanted to ensure you make the right choice here. With that in mind, let’s get the show on the road. Please open up your perk options. You will have quite a few. Don’t pick any yet

Uh, sure. I mentally navigated to perks and had it display the list.

Class Perks Available For Purchase (55 points remaining):

Health Regen, Slow - 1 Class Perk Points

Quest Interface - 1 Class Perk Points

Skills, Limited - 3 Class Perk Points

Status Display - 3 Class Perk Points

Magic, Limited - 3 Class Perk Points

Inventory - 4 Class Perk Points

Party Interface - 5 Class Perk Points

Memory Protection - 50 Class Perk Points

I started going through the list. Health regen! I can actually regain health! Definitely getting that. Huh, [Quest Interface]? Ah. I bet I am ineligible for quests until I get that. [Skills, Limited]? Like I only get a few skills or what? Oh well, that would be nice too. [Status Display]. After mentally thinking that one, I grumbled and closed my stat page. Assuming that lets me see my HP bars and stuff, eh. I am used to looking it up now anyway. Magic! Also limited.. Magic would be pretty nice, though. [Inventory]! Nice! Oh, [Party Interface]! I could join a party for real!

If I currently had a throat, I probably would have choked when I read the next one. [Memory Protection]... FOR 50 POINTS?!

System : I know this is asking a lot, but please purchase that one

But why? What does it do? And if I don’t, I can get all the other perks!

System : Well, to be fair you don’t see all available perks as some of the perks have prerequisites

That gives me even less of a reason to go with it! I mentally shouted.

System : I wanted to give you the reasons against my side first since I think I only need this point to convince you. Titus. What is your mother’s name?

I mentally scoffed. Why would you need to know that?

System : Let me rephrase. Titus, do you remember your mother’s name?

Of course, I know my own... mom’s... name. I couldn’t bring it up. One of the most simple things to ask me about my life before I left this world and I couldn’t remember it. How is that possible?

System : The process of bringing people to a new world is more involved than just taking some nerds from one world and dumping them into another. Especially if it is a gamelike world. Thought processes have to be adjusted so that the new reality is not too jarring. If it is going to be permanent or near-permanent, memories of the past world need to be eroded to avoid too much longing for a world they cannot get back to.

System : That and nearly everyone who came to this world except you has a good reason to forget what they left behind. You are an exception. You want to go back. So, if you are to succeed, then you will need to protect what memories you have left

I bought the 50 point upgrade without further hesitation. So now what?

System : You will also need the quest interface

Any particular reason?

System : I’m afraid I can’t tell you that one

Well, I guess I choose to trust you since I would’ve lost all my remaining memories of home without you. I reluctantly spent 1 of my 5 remaining points to get the Quest interface. What next?

System : Just one last thing, and then my work here is done. You’re going to hear a prophecy. I recommend you sleep on it before you tell anyone about your true role in it. Especially Jake

Uh. Okay? I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that, but I assumed it tied into his warning from earlier.

System : And with that, I have overstayed and need to leave immediately. Just know that I am one of only two who is truly on your side in this. Good luck

What do you mean by that? System?... Hello?... I guess he really left. I looked over his last statement. One of only two? Him and me? Or do I not count? Ugh. Stupid cryptic game admins.

I turned my attention back to the available upgrades and thought.

Well, the first buy is a no-brainer. 1 point for actual HP regen. Yes, frickin, please. Without that, I would eventually just waste away to chip damage. I made the purchase, and the list was down to the entries for skills, [Status Display], and magic. [Inventory] and [Party Interface] were gone. Well, I guess it only shows things you can afford. So I wouldn’t have even known about [Memory Protection] if System hadn’t boosted me above 50. That was nice of him.

Speaking of System, I should give him a nickname or something. System vs. System is just too confusing. He has a space in his display name, so Spacey? Wait, it’s probably a non-breaking space. Call him Alt 255[2]? In case you haven’t guessed, I was not great at names (something which holds true even to this day to my shame).

I finally came up with something half-decent. AltSys. Both for his non-breaking space and as an alternate system. Well... At least I thought it was half-decent.

My naming conundrum resolved, I was back to the great debate. 3 choices, which can I rule out immediately? I looked through. First on the chopping block... [Status dis-

I paused for half a second as my status opened, and I immediately dismissed it. Urgh. I wish the stat- the stat page could sense intent to know when you wanted it open or not.

Anyway, the stat display. I am already used to pulling it up, so it isn’t that big of a benefit. The remaining 3 are definitely ones that could be helpful, though. Skills would actually let me get stronger. So would magic, however. I thought back at how my MP was sitting at a solid 0 points the entire time I was in the tutorial. I am not 100% sure that this would also give me mana points. I could totally see some shenanigans where I buy it and find out “mana regen sold separately.”

I mulled it over a bit more. I think my choice has to be skills. It seems the most likely to have an immediate benefit. Unless it screws me over with the limited part.

I confirmed the purchase of skills and was surprised to see yet another set of system notifications.

System: New Martial Art discovered

System: New Achievement. Sensei. Martial Arts skill granted

System: Applying experience retroactively for Martial Arts (Way of the Adaptable Fist)

System: New Achievement. First Sensei. Cost of skills related to Martial Arts (Way of the Adaptable Fist) cut in half

I whistled internally. Wow. Looks like skills were definitely the way to go. And, I should be able to pick up a skill or two, right? I backed out of the perk selection and saw that I had 8 skill points available. How do I have 8? 5 doesn’t go into 8?

I opened my status.

Status

Name: Titus

Class: Demon Lord (Displaying Half-Demon)

Level:8

Race: Demon Lord (Displaying Half-Demon)

HP: 180/180

MP: 0/90

SP: 270/270

Age: 24

Oh. Daang. 4 level ups from that single kill, not one. I wonder how many levels above me that boss was. I shrugged off the question that I had no way of finding out and opened up the skill selection section.

Skills Available for Purchase (8 points remaining):

Athletics - Passive - 3 Skill Points

Detect - Passive - 3 Skill Points

Survivor - Passive - 3 Skill Points

Elemental Strike - Active - 5 Skill Points (Price reduced)

The debate over the first skill took me only as long as it took to read the list. An actual honest to goodness attack ability? And my achievement put it on sale? Yup. [Elemental Strike] it is. My point total dropped to 3. Exactly 3 points left. I think AltSys may have actually planned that. If so, that was actually pretty kind of him. But which do I take?

I puzzled over the list. It doesn’t help that I am not really sure of what any of these do. [Athletics] probably either makes me faster or makes me use less stamina. Or it does something else entirely. I wouldn’t put it past this world. [Detect] seems straightforward, but I don’t know that I would need it.

And last we have [Survivor]. Which is the most vague of them all. The others at least seem like they have a straightforward application. [Survivor] could mean a lot of things. Does it help me live off the land? If so, don’t need it. Does it make it me better at surviving damage? Then I want it a lot.

What would help me in a fight? [Athletics] maybe. [Survivor] maybe. Actually, would [Detect] help me find openings? If so, that may be good too?

I could just save the points until I have more info? I thought back to how I had to claim the obelisk to use it. On second thought... This may be the last obelisk I get to touch in a while. I’m not sure I want to find out what happens if I claim an obelisk that isn’t in a dungeon in the middle of nowhere. I do have the bad guy class here.

Well, my biggest issues were that I had no attack power, no way to regain HP, and then stamina issues. I think I have to take [Athletics] since that has the best chance of helping with the third problem. My points dropped to 0.

System: Applying experience retroactively for Athletics

I checked my skills in my status and was surprised to see both [Athletics] and [Martial Arts] at level 4. Wow. Definitely glad I picked skills. Also, I think that means that [Athletics] was the right choice. Worst comes to worst, it will help me when I run away. I mentally chuckled.

No more points to spend. I guess I am done here. How do I leave? My thoughts were answered, and I could feel the particles that currently constituted my body suddenly flying through space at great speed.

I saw the notification before anything else.

System: Zone entered, Faroff Village. Faction - Vir

And just like that, I was standing next to a blue obelisk and looking out over a small village. It was midday and snowing, and I blinked furiously from the glare. Even though I didn’t need to, I took a deep breath. “Ahhh. Fresh air! It’s been ages!”

I was shaken out of my thoughts. Literally. It wasn’t a huge quake, but the ground definitely started shaking a bit. Just as soon as it started, it was gone.

At the same time, I received a notification.

System: The realm trembles as a new Demon Lord is born! Demon morale has been restored, and darkness begins its nefarious plans to conquer the world

Oh. That ain’t good.

I also finally noticed that I had an audience. A young boy was holding a small bow and arrow. The arrow dropped to the ground. Before I could react, he was off like a shot and screaming. “Dad! Dad! He’s here! He’s here!”

Without stopping to think, I took off in the opposite direction towards the woods.

[1] Ad - A monster that is spawned by a boss monster in video games, usually in large numbers

[2] Programming note this time. Alt 255 is the character code for a non-breaking space (i.e. if you hold alt, press 255 on the num pad and then release alt it will give you a space character). To way oversimplify it, that space character has some special properties and can occasionally cause programmers some grief.