Everything went dark before Gael’s eyes, and he felt as if he was floating, without any feeling of weight. The darkness disappeared and light came back. He felt a refreshing feeling on his nose, and just like in his dream, he was back to a clearing.

Gael and a bunch of other people were located in the middle of a clearing. The grass was low, only reaching his shin. The humidity in the air was comfortable, keeping the temperature warm. Everything around the place was peaceful and calm and the low grass slowly swayed with the wind. The trees around the clearing looked ancient and might. They reached heights of 20 meters, giving the impression of being an ant amidst giants. Their trunks were so thick that Gael thought that it would be hard for even 7 people to embrace them together. However, the strange thing was that the trees didn’t have the impression of being ancient despite being so big, they gave off a refreshing air, like a sapling that had just sprouted from the ground.

Many confused people began to look around. He, and another 199 others were transported to this place. “Finally, The real game begins.” Gael grinned while looking around. Most people around him were wearing normal clothes, there were people from all ethnicities and from all over the world from what he could see.

After a few seconds of confusion, a laugher was heard coming from above, and everyone looked at its source. A small boy floated in the air, or at least what looked like one. He was chubby and had wings on his back, its pink hair was spiky like a porcupine, although combed to the back of his head, and there was a horn coming out from the middle of his forehead. The blue sky behind his back contrasted with its strange figure, making its looks even more unique.

“What the hell is that!” Someone amidst the crowd screamed. Some panicked voices could be heard here and there, but they were soon silenced by a show of power. SPLAASH. The body of the man who screamed suddenly exploded, and blood rained everywhere, more people screamed until a voice interrupted them.

“The next one who screams will suffer the same end.” Said a sweet voice coming from above.

Gael had gotten away from the range of the explosion and spared his clothes from being stained in blood. Although he was not bothered by having blood on him, at least he wouldn’t have the need to clean himself afterwards.

“Now that I have your attention, let’s make a proper introduction, after all, I wouldn’t be a good host if I didn’t behave properly.” Said the boy with a smile splattered on his teeth. “I am Monoceros, the most amazing one between us 88 brothers and sisters, and here to welcome you to the tutorial.” He looked around as if expecting some reaction from the crowd, seeing none, he shook in frustration and kept talking. “I’ll be brief. You are here to be tested!” He pointed to the corner of the clearing, and a green creature appeared in there. The creature had a small stature and sharp ears, its teeth were serrated like a shark, and it looked everywhere menacingly.

“This creature is a goblin, one of the many enemies you’ll be facing on this test. Would anyone here like to fight it?” It looked around, as if expecting answers. The crowd stood frozen in place. Nobody had the courage to step forward, until Gael stepped forward and said. “I’ll fight it.”

“Finally someone with some guts!” Monoceros said. “All of you will learn that courage and strength is rewarded from now on. Here, take this and fight it.” He waved his hand and threw a sword before Gael.

Gael picked the sword from the ground and ran toward the creature. The goblin had a small knife that in its hand looked more like a sword. It ran toward Gael, trying to stab him. Without wasting time, Gael simply sidestepped and beheaded the goblin with a smooth attack. “I am still lacking.” He thought. Even though the movement was quick and made with precision, he knew that facing only one goblin was a piece of cake, but facing a legion of them was the real challenge. He had put all his strength on that swing, and if there were any more enemies around him, they could surely pick him while he was gathering his strength back and recovering his center of gravity. Attacks like the one he just made were better used in only specific circumstances,

Unlike him, the crowd was shocked from the scene. The lack of hesitation and smooth moves really shocked them.

“Ohhh, Look at what we got here!” Monoceros clapped in applause. “You deserve this boy.” He threw a ring toward him. Gael raised his hand and grabbed it in the air. The fact that Monoceros threw the ring at him, and not on the ground, showed that he had gotten its approval, something that would be of great importance.

Monoceros pointed to the middle of the clearing, and a bonfire laid there. “You have to protect this bonfire in order to keep getting provisions. A portion of food will be delivered near it everyday, starting from tomorrow of course. Be sure to survive the invasion first!”

“Before I go, I’ll give you all a gift.” Suddenly, an uncomfortable look appeared on everyone’s face. Gael looked at the back of his left hand, and the tattoo of a star that appeared. “Try saying ‘status’” Monoceros said while winking. “Bye bye everyone.” He waved to the crowd and disappeared on thin air.

After a short silence, restlessness took everyone. Gael picked the knife from the goblin and looked at the tattoo while saying “status”.

Name:

Gael Sidus

Strength:

Low (High)

Endurance:

Low (High)

Agility:

Low (High)

Stamina:

Low (High)

Mana:

Low (High)

Special ability:

Wind rose

Skills:

None

He looked at his status and was not impressed by what he saw. He knew that there would be a status screen, and that the most he could achieve was low (High) on them, That was the limit of humans without external help. He turned his eyes to look at his special ability and sighed after looking at it.

Description:

The four directions can take you anywhere.

He looked at his special skill almost as if he was trying to decipher it. From his studies of his visions and notes, he arrived at the conclusion that the visions were of a version of himself in the future. One of the things that frustrated the future him in the visions was the skills he could have. This special ability restricted Gael body, making it possible for him to only have four skills.

At least he didn’t have a limit in how many techniques he could create. However, there was a clear difference between a skill and a technique. Skills could be learned through tomes or inheritances, and were mostly supernatural, the skill to control the elements were one of these. Skills could control the elements, and allow one to change the world around themselves. There was a common phrase that he saw many times in the visions ‘The skills makes the class, while the special skills points the directions’, the meaning of this phrase was that although one could choose any kind of skill to themselves, most people would only specialize in one aspect.

There was a need to train skills, you didn't receive a skill and became the most powerful person in the world because of it. The most powerful people had focused on one aspect, it would be either close combat or long range combat, or in a specific element.

Techniques, however, were a totally different history. An example would be the technique Concealment. Concealment was an application of mana, the person had to basically manipulate their bodies and mana in certain ways, in order to conceal their aura and presence.

From what he learned from the visions, many didn’t believe in the power of techniques, but he knew that most powerful people had either learned some techniques from lost temples, or created one for themselves.

“Well, at least the potential of the skills are enhanced.” Gael thought, but he knew in his heart that he was underestimating his special ability, from what he glimpsed, it limited him but also broke the boundaries of the skills somehow.

He looked at the sword given to him by Monoceros, and saw that it was only a normal weapon, no runes were enhancing it. “At least the material is durable.” Gael swung the sword while thinking. The ring on the other hand, was mysterious in many ways, even after injecting mana on it, there was no response.

He looked back after hearing some steps. A middle aged man, with tanned skin and a gray goatee arrived before him.

“Hello young man, my name is Rude Brupidh.” He stretched his hand to do a hand-shake. When he saw that Gael was looking at him with cold eyes, he retracted it and continued. “Well, we were thinking that you could show us how to use that weapon.” He said while looking at the sword.

There were almost twenty people behind Rude, and although his intentions looked concealed, it was obvious to those who had eyes. Gael was distrustful of people because of how he was raised, and he would absolutely trust in no one in the tutorial. The man obviously wanted his sword, and the crowd behind him served to intimidate him.

“Fuck off.” Gael calmly said, emanating killing intent.

Rude stepped back after feeling the killing intent emanating from Gael. He was shocked, and froze in place. The minions behind him also didn’t know what to do.

Gael walked past him and looked to the huge crowd that was now disoriented, and without a clear goal. “HEY!” he shouted. After making sure that he had everyone’s attention, he continued. “Monoceros clearly said that we had to survive an invasion. Although he didn’t say when it will happen I presume it will happen sometime tomorrow before we get the provision he talked about.”

Although Gael’s words looked like pure deduction, they were planned in detail. He knew he didn’t have enough power, influence or even the desire to control the crowd. So he could at least use his position of strength to make an impact. In his visions, the fear of not knowing when the attack would happen, or even the strength of the goblin impacted the crowd much more than this time, they stayed awake the whole night in fear of the attack, after all, the goblin had killed 5 people before being stopped.

He killed the goblin so swiftly in order to show the people that these creatures could be killed, and at the same time get some influence by showing his strength.

“Although we don’t have food right now, if we survive until tomorrow, we will receive food.” He pointed to the magic bonfire while speaking. Making the crowd remember the words of Monoceros. “And even though we don’t have weapons, you can use this to make some wooden spears.” He raised the knife that he got from the goblin. “Does anyone know how to make a wooden spear?” He looked around while waiting for an answer.

Although the movement was slow, someone stepped forward and raised his hand. The man was tall, almost reaching 2 meters from what Gael could see, and his short hair and black skin made him stand out. “I worked as a carpenter for some years, I can help by making the spears.”

Gael walked to the man and asked. “What is your name?”

“It’s John.”

“I am Gael.” He looked into the man's eyes and continued. “Do a good job John, the life of the people here will depend on whether or not the wooden spears are useful.” Gael said, while John nodded with seriousness in his eyes.