Standing next to his twin sister’s grave, Nathan was once again overwhelmed by a sense of loneliness as he suppressed his tears, not willing to give in to his despair.

"I would never have imagined I would be forced to live my life without you. Just a couple of days ago you were still here next to me like you always had been."

They had grown up together in an orphanage completely relying on each other for support. In life, they only had each other as family. The bond they shared wasn’t something regular people could understand at all. Nicole had been there for Nathan his whole life no matter what he was going through. She had supported him through thick and thin and even beyond that. Yet worst of all there wasn't anyone he could even blame for her death, except himself or the world itself. Just this week alone, he had lost count of the numerous times he had resisted the urge to go to the place where she was or drink away his sorrows into oblivion. But whenever these feelings got too strong a deep chill wrapped his whole body with just a hint of warmness in it stopping his self-destructive ways.

Nathan closed his eyes in the desolate graveyard as he tried his best to calm down the emotional turmoil he had within him. The graveyard was completely silent with the exception of the leaves as they rustled from the wind. It felt like an eternity had passed by until the sound and feeling of wind had suddenly disappeared as he opened his eyes. He wasn’t standing in a graveyard any longer. It was a pure white space with a single woman standing in front of him. She was beautiful with an odd motherly charm to her. Nathan wasn’t the only one that was seeing this woman at this moment. As every single human on the planet no matter the place found themselves standing in front of her.

"Welcome, Nathan." Her voice gave off a sense of calmness that was seemingly infectious as Nathan’s mind became the clearest it has been in his whole life.

"What is this pla.." Nathan couldn't even finish his sentence as information had started to flow into his mind giving him answers he didn't even know he had.

"Shall we begin the process, mister Nathan?" He knew the meaning of her question, but it was still so hard to accept what was happening.

Before they could start Nathan still had to ask her a question. In the information he had just gained he found hope to change the unchangeable. It was the one and only thing he had dreamt of happening ever since she passed away.

"Is it truly possible to make even the dead return?" The woman who he now knew as the guide smiled at him and answered what he already knew.

"Yes, technically it is possible." She gestured to him to come closer so they could begin the process.

"Mister Nathan since you are a bit of a special case compared to others you have the opportunity to receive two gifts instead of one!" Her brown hair swayed as she gestured with her hands the grandiose event that Nathan had the blessing of experiencing.

A colorful wheel materialized in front of him with the names of the potential rewards he could receive from it. From a simple glance, you could instantly notice that a big majority of the wheel was taken up by the words Tutorial. The rest of them were in a similar game like theme, for example, Random skill, Attribute boost, Random Weapon, Random gear, Random blessing.

Nathan understood there was no point in wasting his time in this space as he approached the wheel. From the simple push, he gave it began to spin in speed he couldn't follow with his eyes, before instantly stopping on the option random unique ability. This option was so small compared to the rest of the wheels options he had even missed it when he examined the wheel.

With the wheel stopping on the random unique ability a blue screen appeared in front of him containing the information of his reward.

| Unjust gain |

| Taking the life of a unique ability holder grants their unique ability. |

"Congratulations mister Nathan you got quite lucky to gain a unique ability!"

Compared to the cheerful demeanor of the guide about his luck, he felt a sense of discomfort as the thought of killing another felt like an alien concept to him. The ability gave him nothing unless he killed another holder of a unique ability. It wasn’t like he hadn’t gotten in a couple of fights before in his life, but to go as far as kill somebody had never crossed his mind.

"Yeah... Thank you. I can still spin it one more time right?" Nathan still didn't know why he had been granted this special privilege, but he couldn't muster up the will to ask for the answer to the guide. Fearing to hear what he suspected the reason to be.

"Yes, please go ahead and spin it."

Getting the confirmation he needed Nathan spun the wheel once more and just like last time it had instantly stopped mid-spin on one of its rewards. Creating a mild dissatisfaction in the way the wheel worked.

| Tutorial |

| You are given a chance to adapt to the upcoming changes the world will face in a safe environment where death will only mean the end of the tutorial. |

"Congratulations mister Nathan, you got one of the best rewards available. Your luck is truly great. Since we are done with your reward distribution you shall be placed where you belong." Before Nathan could say anything else his vision shifted from the white room to a stone brick chamber.

But they obviously weren’t made of any stone Nathan knew even if they looked like that. Each brick had a small illumination effect letting him see the interior of the room. The room was quite big and equally full of weapons. From the simplest iron dagger to a mighty two-handed battle hammer. Inspecting the weapons in the room a particular four had coughed his eye being noticeably different from the rest of them. They were made from wood with crystal-like gems embedded at the top.

Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to convince himself this was truly happening and he hasn’t gone completely insane.

“If there are so many weapons here, they most likely want me to use them on something.” With this, though in mind he began to evaluate his options the spear seemed like a nice safe bet giving him the ability to keep enemies at a safer distance than a sword. But before he could come to any final decision Nathan just had to know what were those staffs as he approached one of them to pick it up. The wood had looked quite rough on the outside but when he held it in his own hands it was oddly smooth and soon enough a message had started to hover near the staff.

| Beginners fire staff |

| Ability: Fire discharge |

| Increases Fire element power and control by 5% |

Seeing the system's message once again made him recall something he had completely overlooked all this time even if it should have been the first thing he checked.

"Status"

| Name: Nathan Bandon |

| Level: 0 |

| Status: Haunted |

| Strength: 5 |

| Vitality: 4 |

| Agility: 5 |

| Sense: 4 |

| Magic power: 1 |

| Mana: 1 |

| Attribute points: 0 |

"It's just how they said it would be..." Nathans's heart instantly skipped a beat as he noticed his status. He didn't even notice his hand tremble as he reached out to touch the word Haunted in his status screen. From the information the guide had given him he knew this would give him more details.

| Haunted |

| You are being Haunted by a spirit with a strong attachment to yourself. |

| Half of your experience is being transferred to the spirit. |

| Your maximum vitality is slowly being drained away to sustain the spirit. |

The image of a girl that was engraved in his soul had instantly appeared in his mind. How couldn’t it if that’s all he was thinking about these days. Her beautiful long raven hair, that she had grown out for such a long time that he loved. Her pale skin and delicate features. Not to mention her piercing blue eyes that shined like two gems. The person he would be willing to do absolutely anything for.

"Could it really be her?" That was the only possibility that came to Nathans's mind to who could be haunting him. No, it was the only possibility Nathan could accept.

"Nicole are you really here!" His voice trembled as he called out to her in the room where he stood alone. In hope, he would be able to hear her voice once again. Yet all that greeted him was the echo of his own voice. Just as he was feeling truly foolish in his naive idea that she was still here with him, that mysterious feeling he had grown familiar with had embraced him with its chill as his body shivered only to recover with the warmness that it contained as well.

That was the signal that Nathan was looking for. That hopelessness he felt ever since she was gone had started to fade away as he got excited for the possibility of being reunited with her once again. To be able to see and hear here once again. The wooden staff was thrown on the ground as he grabbed the nearby sword and a shield. With these weapons, he had the confidence to be able to take down anything the tutorial would throw his way as he exited the chamber into the stone brick corridor.

| Welcome to the tutorials stage 0. You will be put against 8 weak opponents almost all could defeat. They are much weaker in power compared to yourself. Your goal is to defeat all 8 of them as you reach the next stage of the tutorial. |

| Stage 0-3 |

| Your first 3 opponents are going to be human skeletons that have seemingly infinite stamina. The only way to defeat them is to extinguish the connection they have with the soul that animates them. This can be done by destroying or separating their skull from their body. |

After carefully reading through the messages the system had given him Nathan began to walk down the corridor soon enough encountering the skeleton system had mentioned. It was just as it was described a simple human skeleton simply standing in the middle of the corridor without doing anything at all. It wasn’t even holding any weapons or even moving.

Nathan began to approach it yet it still showed no reaction to his actions. This continued until his sword swung straight at its neck in hopes of decapitating it. But before the sword could do just that the skeleton intercepted with his arm as it dug into its bone instead. Not panicking by this development Nathan swung the shield he held in his other hand at the skeleton knocking it down to the floor while freeing his blade from its arm. Without any mercy, the sword was swung once again at its neck just as it was trying to get up successfully decapitating it as its bone skull hit the stone brick floor echoing through the tunnel while it’s skeletal body fell apart losing what it held its bones together.

| Level 0 Skeleton has been slain. |

| +10(-50%) Experience |

Nathan held a goal now, a goal for which he would be willing to sacrifice anything to fulfill. He had gained the opportunity to be once again reunited with her something he had dreamed about countless times. This dream could be fulfilled as long as he kept leveling and growing. His footsteps rang through the tunnel as he met his next foe.

Another skeleton stood in the middle of the tunnel only this time holding a sword and shield just as Nathan. It wasn’t as passive as the last one as it swung it’s sword at him as soon as he entered its range only to be parried and overpowered and pushed to the ground with the help of the shield. Being put in this helpless position it’s life was taken as well.

| Level 0 Skeleton has been slain. |

| + 10(-50%) Experience |

The minus fifty percent to his experience gain only motivated him even further as he knew with every foe he kills he was one step closer to resurrecting Nicole. Keeping up his momentum unsurprisingly another skeleton stood in the middle of the tunnel only this time it held a bow with its arrow already nocked as it released it as soon as Nathan had seen it. Taken by surprise he panicked as he instinctively raised his shield in front of his face. Only for the arrow to pierce his leg. The sudden sharp pain took him by surprise as blood started to flow down his leg staining the stone brick floor. Clenching his jaw Nathan tried his best not to panic and think of the possibility his artery had been hit. There was a lot of blood that was coming out of his leg as the stench of blood was making him feel a bit woozy or was it just the blood loss? Yet as the idea itself had manifested in his mind more came as well not helping his situation at all. But before things could get any worse that feeling of a chill with its lingering warmness came once again almost instantly clearing his mind.

For the first time after being wounded in the leg, he looked away from it to see the skeleton had already gotten close enough for it to raise the bow it held up in the air ready to strike at Nathan. The club-like swing of the skeleton hit him straight on the head but at the same time, the sword he had clenched in his arm this whole time had decapitated it.

| Level 0 Skeleton has been slain. |

| + 10(-50%) Experience |

| Congratulations you have defeated the last foe of 0-3. All your injuries will be healed before you face the 4-6 of stage 0 |

| Your next challenge will be one of the weakest creatures that you can encounter. The goblins can be vanquished easier than a skeleton but they are a creature with wisdom and thought of their own. |

The arrow that was stuck in his leg was quickly expelled from his body as the wound on his leg healed instantly as soon as the skeleton was defeated. Nathan wasn’t someone who had been training for years to be able to battle without any problems. He was just getting used to it as he reflected on what he could have done better. The pain and hardship meant nothing to him as long as he had the chance to be with her once again.